LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 

Mrs.  SARAH  P.  WALSWORTH. 

Received  October,  i8g4. 
Accessions  ^o.v^T^tLp  ^      Class  No. 


THE 


CEDECH   BEFORE  THE  FLOOD 


I 


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THE 


CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 


BY    THE 


REV.   JOHN   CUMIVIING,   D.  D. 

•  c 

MDflSTEa  OF  THE  SCOTCH  NATIONAL  CHURCH,  CROWN  COURT,  COVENT  QABDKN, 
LONDON. 


So  shall  her  holy  bounds  increase. 
With  walls  of  praise  and  gates  of  peace ; 
So  shall  the  vine,  which  martyrs'  tears 
And  blood  sustained  in  other  years. 

With  fresher  life  be  clothed  upon. 
And  to  the  world  in  beauty  show 
Like  the  rose-plant  of  Jericho, 

And  glorious  as  Lebanon. 


BOSTON: 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  P.  JEWETT  AND  COMPANY. 

CLEVELAND,   OHIO: 

JEWETT,  PROCTOR,  AND  WORTHINGTON^ 

1854.    ^^^-,     _     _ 

[uiri7BRsiTy; 


Slt^H 


CAMBRIDGE: 

SN   AND  FASNHAM,  BTEREOTYPERS  AND  PEINTEB8. 


:l 


PREFACE 


One  loves  to  trace  the  stream  upward  to  its 
fountain.  Christianity  was  first  preached  in  Para- 
dise. Adam  and  Eve  were  the  first  believers. 
A^el  was  the  first  Christian  martyr.  They  lived 
and  loved,  and  prayed  and  praised,  in  the  grey 
and  misty  dawn.  They  looked  forward  and  up- 
ward to  the  rising  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness, 
and  rejoiced  in  the  increasing  light.  In  their  faith 
and  hope,  the  "  woman's  seed "  was  all  and  in  all. 
By  faith  Enoch  and  Noah  walked  with  God. 
These  ancient,  saints  did  not  live  on  bread  alone, 
but  by  every  word  that  proceeded  from  the  mouth 
of  God. 

The  Church  I  ever  regard,  not  as  an  ecclesiastical 
hierarchy  —  Episcopate  or  Presbyterate  —  however 
useful  these  features  may  be  in  their  place,  but  as 
the  company  of  faithful  Christians,  the  congre- 
gation of  all  believers.  On  earth  it  has  been 
sometimes   hidden,   often   few,  occasionally  visited 


VI  PREFACE. 

with  exterminating  persecution,  yet  never  extin- 
guished. "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always  to  the  end 
of  the  world,"  is  her  inherited  promise.  "  Where 
two  or  three  are  met  together  in  my  name,  there 
am  I  in  the  midst  of  them,"  is  her  experience. 
"  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and  none  shall 
pluck  them  out  of  my  hand,"  is  her  safety.  All 
our  visible  churches  are  merely  provisional  or  tem- 
porary arrangements,  till  that  which  is  perfect 
comes ;  that  is,  till  "  the  manifestation  of  the  sons 
of  God."  Then  that  which  is  provisional  shall  be 
done  away,  and  that  which  is  perfect  will  alone 
remain. 

It  is  in  vain  that  we  belong  to  the  outer  and 
visible,  if  we  be  strangers  to  the  inner  and  true 
church.  May  we  feel  it  personally  important  to 
edify  the  latter,  and  less  and  less  our  interest  or 
duty  to  quarrel  about  the  former. 

The  author  hopes  to  present  in  another  volume 
The  Church  of  the  Patriarchs,  as  soon  as  he  can 
spare  time  to  arrange  it. 


CONTENTS 


¥ 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  1. 

THE   BIBLE ...  1 


CHAPTER  II. 

GENESIS  AND   GEOLOGY .        27 

CHAPTER  III. 

CREATION  51 

CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   FIKST   MAN,   ADAM,    AND    THE    LAST  ....         68 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE    CURSE 85 

CHAPTER  VI. 

REDEMPTION  .     , TOO 

CHAPTER  VII. 

MISSIONARY   DUTY  119 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   PROTOMAKTYR  137 

CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   HEART   AS    IT    IS 156 


VIU  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  X. 

BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE 174 

CHAPTER  XL 

THE   VICTOKY   OF   FAITH  195 

CHAPTER  XII. 

UIGII   CIIURCHMANSHIP 211 

CHAPTER  Xin. 

ARARAT;    OR,    THE   FIRST   BIORNI^SG    OF   A   NEW   DAY  .  .      228 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   RAINBOW      ." 246 

CHAPTER  XV. 

THE    THREE    FOREFATHERS  262 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Enoch's  PRoriiECY  278 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Enoch's  creed 299 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE   BABEL   BUILDERS;    OR,    UNSANCTIFIED   JUDGMENTS  .      317 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

the   EVERLASTING    GOSPEL 334 

CHAPTER  XX.     ' 

FAITH   AND    HOPE 355 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

FULL   ASSURANCE 371 


CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    BIBLE. 

"  Hast  thou  ever  heard 
Of  such  a  book  ?     The  Author,  God  himself; 
The  subject,  God  and  man,  salvation,  life. 
And  death  —  eternal  life  —  eternal  death." 

"All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God."  — 1  Tim.  iii.  15, 16. 
"  Whatsoever  things  were  written  aforetime  were  written  for  our  learning." 
EoM.  XV.  4. 

We  have  in  the  existing  church  what  the  Church  before 
the  Flood  had  not,  a  written  rule  of  faith.  This  is  an  ines- 
timable privilege.  "  God,  who  at  sundry  times  and  in  divers 
manners  spake  in  time  past  unto  the  fathers  by  the  prophets, 
hath  in  these  last  days  spoken  to  us  by  his  Son."  We  have 
all  that  Adam,  and  Enoch,  and  Noah  had,  and  very  much 
more,  far  more  clearly  revealed.  In  this  introductory 
chapter  let  me  make  some  remarks  on  this  precious  Record. 

The  Bible  is  not  a  disquisition  on  astronomy,  or  philoso- 
phy, or  geology,  or  other  science.  Man  can  wait  the  slow 
process  of  discovery  in  science,  but  he  cannot  wait  a  single 
moment  for  an  answer  to  the  question,  "  What  must  I  do  to 
1 


2  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

be  saved  ? "  because  in  that  moment  his  soul  may  be  re- 
quired of  him.  It  is.  therefore,  wisely  and  beneficently- 
arranged,  that  the  results  of  science  shall  be  from  slow 
discovery ;  and  it  is  no  less  beneficently  arranged  that  the 
disclosure  of  the  way  of  salvation  shall  be  instant  and 
complete.  The  Bible,  therefore,  leaves  the  Copernican  and 
the  Ptolemaic  systems  of  astronomy  to  settle  their  disputes, 
and  replies  primarily  to  the  anxious  question,  "  What  musi 
I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  The  Bible  is  not  a  discovery ;  it  is  a 
revelation.  Between  these  two  words  there  is  a  broad  and 
important  distinction.  A  discovery  is  that  which  man 
makes,  and  which  man  can  enlarge ;  a  revelation  is  that 
which  God  gives,  and  which  God  alone  can  add  to.  When 
Columbus  found  America,  he  made  a  discovery;  and  sub- 
sequent voyagers  have  left  mankind  better  acquainted  with 
that  continent  than  he  himself  was :  it  was  a  discovery  that 
man  could  make,  and  that  man  can  still  mend.  But  the 
Bible  is  not  a  discovery  which  has  been  reached  by  the 
soaring  wing,  or  by  the  sustained  and  persevering  industry 
of  man ;  it  is  a  revelation  that  comes  down  from  heaven  in 
all  its  beauty  and  in  all  its  completeness,  so  much  so,  that 
he  that  attempts  to  add  to  it  takes  the  place  of  God,  and 
"  shows  himself  as  if  he  were  God,"  professing  to  mend 
what  is  already  perfect,  and  to  add  to  that  which  God  has 
pronounced  complete. 

The  Bible  is  an  eminently  popular  book ;  it  is  emphati- 
cally the  book,  not  for  the  college,  nor  for  the  scientific 
hall,  but  for  the  people.  The  figures  which  it  employs 
are  drawn  from  the  most  familiar  and  every  day  expe- 
rience ;  the  coloring  spread  over  it  is,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  fresh  as  it  was  when  it  w^as  first  given,  and  is  still 
fitted  to  attract  and  arrest  the  multitude.  Human  works 
endure,  and  are  pojiular,  in  proportion  as  they  partake  of 
this  universality.    The  Bible  has  the  great  element  of  catho- 


THE    BIBLE.  6 

licity  in  its  bosom ;  it  is  a  book  not  for  a  coterie,  nor  for  a 
sect,  nor  for  a  party,  but  for  all  manivind.  And  while  it 
speaks  to  all  at  once,  it  speaks  to  each  separately,  with  no 
less  distinctness  and  emphasis.  The  great  congregation  can 
listen  to  God's  voice  sounding  in  the  Bible  ;  the  solitary  man 
in  his  closet  can  hear  its  sweet  chimes  in  his  soul  also  ;  it 
provokes  a  resonant  echo  in  the  heart  of  the  humblest 
listener.  Like  God's  own  omnipresence,  the  Bible  reaches 
to  the  loftiest  spirit,  and  prescribes  the  lavv's  and  the 
direction  of  his  orbit ;  and  it  descends  to  the  humblest 
artisan,  aitd  tells  him  at  once,  in  its  own  majestic  and 
paternal  tones,  how  to  be  happy  and  holy  for  ever.  All 
history,  all  criticism,  all  hermeneutics,  (if  I.  may  use  a  long 
word,)  all  archasology,  are  not,  and  may  not  be,  substitutes 
for  the  Bible,  nor  do  they  add  to  the  Bible ;  they  are  meant 
simply  to  show  the  Bible  in  its  own  exclusive  and  dominant 
jDosition.  When  the  critic  sits  down  to  illustrate  the  Bible, 
he  sim[)ly  tries  to  put  it  beibre  us  just  as  it  was  put  before 
the  Corinthians,  so  that  we  may,  from  the  standing  point 
which  the  Corinthian  Christian  and  the  Roman  Christian 
had,  sec  the  same  glory  sweep  by,  and  hear  the  same  voice 
speak  from  the  heavens  to  our  listening  and  obedient 
heart. 

The  Bible  is  composed  of  a  great  many  books,  and 
books  that  are  cumulative  (if  I  may  use  the  expression) 
and  progressive.  Genesis  gives  the  unity,  the  origin,  the 
apostasy  of  our  race,  and  the  promise  of  a  Saviour. 
Leviticus,  Exodus,  and  Deuteronomy,  are  the  outlines  and 
shadows  of  the  approaching  Sun,  seen  by  Levi,  in  some 
such  way  as  the  sun  in  the  firmament  is  seen  by  the 
astronomer  through  a  smoked  lens :  the  eye  of  the  one  is 
not  able  to  endure  its  intensity  ;  the  minds  of  the  others 
were  not  prepared  for  the  full  blaze,  the  meridian  splendor, 
of  the   Sun  of  righteousness.     Job  is  a  specimen  of  the 


4  TUE    CnURCII    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

deep  yearning  and  craving  of  the  human  heart,  amid  the 
waves  and  billows  of  sorrow  and  afiliction,  for  a  comforter 
and  redeemer.  Solomon  is  a  manifestation  of  human 
wisdom  in  its  loftiest  discoveries,  but  of  its  unsatisfactori- 
ness  in  them  all.  Ruth  is  for  the  genealogy  of  the  Saviour 
—  important,  because  it  presents  to  us  a  beautiful  link  in 
that  genealogy.  Isaiah  brings  into  the  desolations  of  the 
Captivity  the  splendors  of  a  glorious  day.  Ezekiel  gives 
us  visions  of  the  future  temple,  the  spread  and  triumphs 
of  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah.  Haggai  sees  the  temple 
lighted  up  with  a  glory  to  which  the  first  temple  was  a 
stranger.  Malachi,  like  an  early  morning  star,  heralds  in 
the  approaching  rays  of  the  Sun,  saying,  "  Unto  you  that 
fear  my  name  shall  the  Sun  of  righteousness  rise ; "  and, 
after  four  hundred  years  of  silence,  John  the  Baptist 
appears  as  if  he  were  Malachi  risen  from  the  dead, 
responding  to  his  prophecy,  by  saying,  "  Behold  the  Lamb 
of  God,  that  taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  The 
Gospels  unfold  the  biography  of  the  Son  of  God.  The 
Acts  of  the  Apostles  carry  into  practical  development  the 
functions,  the  attributes,  and  powers  with  which  they  were 
invested  ;  and  the  Apocalypse  is  the  close  of  all  the  glories 
of  the  past,  the  prophetic  dawn  of  all  the  splendors  of  the 
future,  telling  us  in  words,  sure  as  rising  and  setting  suns, 
that  as  the  world  began  with  paradise,  the  world  shall  close 
with  paradise  again. 

In  looking  at  the  whole  Bible  we  find  the  following  data : 
It  contains  in  all  sixty-six  books,  by  forty  different  writers. 
It  presents  history,  biography,  parable,  letters,  proverbs, 
poems,  speeches.  Some  of  them  were  written  by  kings,  some 
by  shepherds,  some  by  herdsmen,  some  by  vine-dressers,  some 
by  tent-makers,  some  by  a  physician.  They  were  composed 
in  different  circumstances,  in  successive  centuries,  in  various 
phases  of  joy,  of  sorrow,  of  afiliction,  and  of  tribulation. 


THE    BIBLE.  O 

Between  the  first  writer  in  Genesis,  and  the  last  writer  in 
the  Apocalypse,  fifteen  hundred  years  intervened.  Now, 
must  we  not  conclude,  in  the  exercise  of  common  sense, 
that  in  men  of  so  varying  professions,  placed  in  so  varying 
circumstances,  subject  each  to  his  peculiar  and  idiosyncratic 
trials,  there  is  evidence  of  special  inspiration,  when  we  find 
that  without  colhision  there  is  perfect  concord,  without 
preconcert  perfect  harmony,  that  without  design  or  adjust- 
ment their  notes,  not  from  nearness  but  relation,  should 
constitute  the  varied  harmonies  of  heaven  ?  Is  it  not 
evidence  that  there  must  have  been  struck,  to  guide  and  to 
develop  them,  one  grand  key-note,  Christ,  and  him  cruci- 
fied? In  one  part  of  this  wondrous  book  the  scholar  is 
addressed  in  language  so  exquisitely  beautiful,  in  thoughts 
so  freshly  drawn  from  the  depths  of  our  human  experience, 
that  he  listens,  and  admires  as  he  listens.  In  another  part, 
the  weary  artisan  who  has  returned  from  his  day's  work, 
bears  the  voice  of  his  Father,  and  finds  that  voice  his 
MoWest  opiate  and  his  sweetest  lullaby.  In  one  part  the 
Bible  speaks  to  babes ;  in  another  part  it  speaks  to  grown 
men.  It  draws  its  ima2;ery  from  agriculture,  from  com- 
merce, from  politics,  from  poetry,  from  nature,  and  from 
art ;  so  that  there  is  not  a  human  being,  however  strange 
and  peculiar  his  taste,  who  shall  not  find  in  this  wonderful 
book  the  common  Christianity  conveyed  in  those  formulas 
and  figures,  and  illustrated  by  those  analogies  which  come 
home  to  his  heart  with  the  greatest  emphasis,  and  convey 
most  vividly  the  great  truths  that  belong  to  his  everlasting 
peace.  If  a  shepherd  wants  to  read  his  Bible,  he  will  find 
allusions  that  will  make  it  familiar  to  him  as  household 
words :  if  a  king  sits  down  on  his  throne  to  read  the  Bible, 
he  will  meet  with  illustrations  there  that  are  meet  for  the 
inmate  of  the  largest  and  the  most  splendid  palace ;  if 
the^  artisan,  or  the  sailor,  or  the  soldier,  read  the  Bible, 
1* 


6  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

he  will  see  the  same  truths  illustrated  by  imagery  with 
which  he  is  practically  familiar,  and  so  coming  home  to  his 
heart,  with  a  power  so  real  and  so  decided,  that  he  will 
feel  that  never  book  spake  like  this  book,  as  it  was  said 
of  old  of  its  author,  ''  Never  man  spake  like  this  man." 

But  it  is  very  remarkable,  that,  while  there  is  all  that  is 
needed  to  edify,  all  that  is  fitted  to  charm  and  to  instruct, 
there  is  not  one  word  adapted  merely  to  gratify  an  itching 
curiosity.  If  I  had  been  writing  a  book  that  I  wanted  to  be 
very  popular,  and  if  I  had  been  desirous  of  using  the  most 
likely  elements,  I  should  have  taken  care  to  give  responses 
to  ^lie  thousand  and  one  curious  questions  that  humanity 
ever  asks  and  never  comprehends.  If  I  had  been  narrating, 
even  as  a  human  being,  and  wishing  to  speak  sincerely,  that 
Lazarus  rose  from  the  dead,  I  should  have  tried  to  throw  in 
some  expressions  or  sketches  of  his  wonderful  experience 
when  separated  from  the  body  —  not  that  it  would  have 
done  man  good,  but  it  would  have  gratified  his  curiosity, 
and  made  my  work  acceptable.  But  upon  that  and  kindted 
subjects  the  Bible  is  silent.  "  Lord,  are  there  many  that  be 
saved  ?  "  How  often  have  we  asked  this  question  !  How 
fine  was  the  answer  — "  Strive  to  enter  in  at  the  strait 
gate ! "  Again,  the  question  is  asked,  "  What  shall  this 
man  do?"  Hear  the  answer  —  "What  is  that  to  thee? 
Follow  thou  me."  The  silence  of  Scripture  is  sometimes 
its  most  thrilling  eloquence.  The  blanks  and  chasms  in 
Scripture  —  the  questions  it  leaves  unanswered  —  the  prob- 
lems it  bequeathes  unsettled  —  the  perplexities  it  leaves 
unsolved,  are  to  my  mind  some  of  the  strongest  and  bright- 
est credentials  that  the  Bible  has  God  for  its  author,  truth 
for  its  matter,  everlasting  joy  and  felicity  for  its  happy 
issue. 

The  Bible  consists  not  merely  of  so  many  individual 
books,  but  of  two  great  divisions.     The  Old  and  the  New 


THE    BIBLE.  7 

Testament  are  the  two  great  sections  of  the  book  called  the 
Bible.  What  is  the  diiference  between  them?  The  Old 
Testament  is  a  lock  with  wards  and  interstices,  far  more 
complicated  than  Chubb  or  Bramah  could  contrive  ;  and  the 
New  Testament  is  the  exquisitely  cut  key,  which,  applied  to 
the  lock,  completely  unlocks  it,  and  opens  a  door  of  entrance 
to  the  bright  vision  of  light  and  immortality,  clearly  brought 
to  view.  The  Old  and  New  Testament  are  different  por- 
traits of  the  same  great  and  glorious  original.  The  Old 
Testament  is  the  portrait  seen  by  moonlight ;  the  New  Tes- 
tament is  the  same  portrait  seen  by  sunlight ;  the  one  hazy 
and  dim,  but  still  real ;  the  other  bright  and  illuminated, 
like  a  noonday  landscape,  on  which  the  minutest  and  most 
majestic  features  may  be  read  and  understood  by  him  that 
Tuns  while  he  reads. 

We  have  these  books  in  all  their  integrity.^  Oh!  what  a 
i^round  of  thankfulness  to  God  is  a  Bible,  —  unmutilated, 
anshortened,  uncorrupted  1  The  Socinian  has  tried  to  ab- 
stract from  it  that  which  is  Divine;  the  Romanist  has 
added  to  it  that  which  is  human ;  but  we  have  this  book 
still  in  its  inspired  integrity ;  it  is  here  that  one  can  see  a 
providence  in  our  divisions.  While  our  differences  may  be 
the  evidences  of  human  weakness,  they  have  been  overruled 
by  God  to  be  the  means  of  the  Bible's  preservation.  If  a 
Church  of  England  man  had  tried  to  put  in  a  word  in  favor 
of  Episcopacy,  the  Independent  would  have  pounced  upon 
him  and  shown  the  fraud;  if  the  Scotch  Churchman  had 
tried  to  put  in  a  word  in  favor  of  his  Confession  of  Faith^ 
the  English  Churchman  would  have  exposed  him  in  the 
light  of  noonday;  if  the  Baptist  had  interpolated  a  word 
about  plunging,  the  Pasdobaptist  would  have  instantly  shown 
it  should  be  sprinkling.  Thus  our  little  divisions,  which  are 
the  evidences  of  our  frailty,  have  been  overruled,  in  the 
good  providence  of  God,  to  be  the  means  of  keeping  in  its 


8  THE    CnURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

unmutilated  integrity  and  perfection  that  blessed  book  which 
is  the  anchorage  ground  of  us  all. 

The  very  existence  of  the  Bible  has  always  appeared  to 
me  a  perpetual  miracle.  This  book,  lying  upon  the  pulpit, 
or  upon  the  desk,  or  upon  the  table,  is  itself  a  glorious  sign. 
Suppose  there  were  to  come  into  our  presence  a  man  who 
had  lived  eighteen  hundred  years  —  suppose  he  had  been 
cast  into  the  sea  a  dozen  times,  and  was  never  drowned  — 
suppose  arsenic  and  prussic  acid  had  been  administered  to 
him,  according  to  the  best  prescriptions,  and  yet  he  was 
never  poisoned  —  suppose  he  had  been  riddled  with  bullets, 
and  yet  is  not  numbered  with  the  slain  —  if  that  man  were 
to  march  into  a  room  this  day,  and  to  present  himself  before 
us,  what  would  be  inferred?  That  God's  omnipresence 
must  have  been  his  shield,  and  God's  omnipotence  his  safety 
at  every  moment.  This  book,  the  Bible,  has  been  cast  into 
the  flames,  and  it  is  not  burned ;  it  has  been  thrown  into 
the  sea,  and  it  is  not  drowned ;  it  has  been  buried  in  the 
pestilential  notes  of  Douay,  and  it  has  been  seized  in  the 
bearlike  grasp  of  the  Roman  Catholic  hierarchy,  and  yet  it 
is  not  crushed.  At  this  day  it  comes  before  us  in  primasval 
purity  and  majesty,  and  thus  eighteen  centuries  demonstrate 
what  Jesus  uttered  in  the  first  century,  "  Thy  word,  O  Lord, 
is  truth."  But  more  than  this.  There  are  certain  books 
called  the  classics,  written  in  Greek  and  Latin,  some  of 
them  beautifully  written,  many  of  them  with  intermingling 
corruptions,  and  appeals  to  what  is  worst  and  most  wicked 
in  our  common  humanity.  Now,  it  is  remarkable  that  un- 
regenerate  human  nature  would  any  day  prefer  a  book 
written  by  man  that  will  minister  to  its  corruptions,  to  a 
book  written  by  God  that  rebukes  those  corruptions.  Yet 
the  classics,  those  books  that  man  tried  to  save,  the  books 
that  he  loved  because  they  prophesied  good  about  him,  the 
books  that  he  labored,  and  suifered,  and  expended  to  protect 


THE    BIBLE.  9 

and  preserve,  are  all  of  them  mutilated,  and  many  of  them 
totally  lost ;  while  this  book,  which  all  men  hated  till  they 
came  under  its  supremacy,  and  which  all  men  persecuted, 
because,  like  the  prophet,  it  propliesied  evil  concerning 
them,  remains  in  all  its  perfection  and  integrity  to  this  day. 
Does  not  this  prove  that  God  has  been  with  this  book  from 
the  beginning  until  now  ? 

The  Church  of  Rome  tells  us,  we  got  the  Bible  from  her, 
and  that  we  ought,  therefore,  to  take  her  opinion  of  it,  hei 
limits,  restrictions,  and  counsel  in  the  interpretation  of  it. 
1  suspect,  however,  that  we  rather  snatched  it  from  her 
grasp,  than  got  it  as  a  present  from  her  generosity ;  but  at 
all  events,  in  whatever  way  we  got  it,  we  are  certainly  most 
thankful  to  God  that  so  blind  a  woman  kept  in  her  hand  for 
us  so  bright  a  light,  and  left  it  for  our  guidance ;  and  all 
our  regret  is,  that  she  was  so  blind  as  not  to  see  its  light 
herself.  But  that  same  Church  turns  round  and  says,  "  As 
you  got  the  Bible  from  us,"  or,  to  put  it  in  a  phraseology 
not  uncommon,  "  As  you  are  indebted  to  the  Church  for  the 
Bible,  you  ought  to  take  the  Church's  interpretation  of  it." 
I  must  demur,  "  The  Apostles  got  the  Old  Testament  from 
the  Jews ;  but  if  they  had  taken  the  Jews'  interpretation  of 
the  Bible,  they  would  have  joined  with  them  in  crucifying 
the  Lord  of  glory.  We  will  take  the  Bible  from  you,  but 
we  will  not  take  your  interpretation  of  it."  Suppose  a  will 
is  brought  into  a  court  of  justice,  and  that  two  persons  who 
signed  the  will  are  brought  forward  as  witnesses  to  the 
genuineness  and  authenticity  of  the  document :  the  moment 
they  have  given  their  testimony,  one  of  the  witnesses,  very 
communicative  and  obliging,  says  to  the  judge,  "  My  lord, 
now  that  we  have  signed  the  will,  and  shown  it  to 'be  gen- 
uine, and  handed  it  to  you  in  this  court,  an  uncorrupted  and 
authentic  document,  I  beg  to  inform  your  lordship  that  the 
will  leaves  500/.  to  my  friend,  2oOL  for  myself,  and  10J}0Z. 


10  THE    CJIURCn    BEFOKE    THE    FLOOD. 

for  somebody  else."  What  would  the  judge  say?  "Gen- 
tlemen, you  are  excellent  witnesses  to  the  genuineness  of 
the  will,  but  the  interpretation  of  the  document  you  must 
leave  to  other  parties  altogether."  If  the  Church  of  Rome 
insists  that  she  did  convey  the  document  to  us  in  all  its 
integrity,  we  say,  "  We  are  exceedingly  obliged  to  you  ;  but 
if  you  insist  that  you  are  therefore  to  interpret  the  docu- 
ment, we  tell  you  at  once  that  you  come  into  court  simply 
as  witnesses  to  its  genuineness ;  we  cannot  accept  you  in 
any  office  in  which  you  have  not  even  presented  yourselves, 
or,  at  least,  in  which  you  ought  not  to  present  yourselves." 
But  if  she  will  insist  that  we  shall  not  have  the  Bible  unless 
we  take  her  opinion  of  it,  we  must  tell  her  that  we  will 
dispense  with  all  her  services  ;  that  we  extremely  regret  it ; 
but  that  faithfulness  to  the  Author  of  the  Bible  necessitates 
it.  For  it  happens  tliat  the  Church  of  Rome  was  not  the 
only  Church  during  the  last  eighteen  centuries.  There  was 
the  Greek  Church  that  she  separated  from,  or  that  she  says 
separated  from  her,  about  the  sixth  century ;  and  there  was 
an  Anglo-Saxon  Church  in  England,  before  a  Popish  monk 
came  over.  The  Romish  Church  is  not  the  old  Church, 
she  is  quite  mistaken,  slie  gets  into  the  dotage  of  age, 
instead  of  asserting  the  evidence  of  age;  there  was  a 
church  here  that  protested  against  her  novelties  long  before 
the  days  of  Hildebrand,  and  even  of  Gregory  the  Great : 
there  was  also  in  Scotland  the  old  Culdee  Church,  the 
Syriac  Church,  and  other  sections  of  the  Church  universal 
scattered  throughout  the  whole  world.  I  w^ill  apply  to  one 
of  these.  Everybody  is  trying  to  find  out  new  plans  for 
supplying  this  great  metropolis  of  ours  with  pure  water; 
suppose  one  company  came  to  me,  and  said,  (I  do  not  say 
they  do  say  so ;  I  am  only  putting  the  case  hypothetically,) 
"  We  will  supply  your  family  with  water,  but  weliave  been 
persuaded,  by  careful  chemical  investigation,  that  to  cover 


THE    BIBLE.  11 

the  interior  of  the  conduit  pipes  with  a  solution  of  arsenic 
is  one  of  the  most  wholesome  practices  that  the  ingenuity 
of  man  has  ever  devised.  If  you  will  have  water  from  our 
company,  you  must  take  it  in  our  pipes,  use  our  ducts  and 
our  cisterns,  or  not  one  drop  shall  you  get  for  breakfast, 
dinner,  or  tea."  What  would  be  our  answer?  "Gentle- 
men, you  have  a  right  to  entertain  your  opinion  about  the 
excellency  of  arsenic,  but  I  am  convinced  that  it  is  very 
poisonous,  and  if  you  will  not  give  me  water  without  arsenic, 
I  will  apply  to  another  company,  that  will  give  me  clean 
water  without  any  such  chemical  preparation  as  you  have 
pi  escribed."  So  with  the  Church  of  Rome.  If  she  will 
not  give  us  pure  water,  just  as  it  wells  from  the  fountain  of 
living  water,  we  will  turn  our  backs,  and  have  recourse  to 
other  springs  that  God  has  dug  in  his  beneficence,  and  get 
living  water  from  the  ocean  and  fountain  of  life,  not  only 
without  arsenic,  but,  what  is  nearly  as  good,  without  money 
and  without  price. 

It  is  a  most  interesting  and  precious  fact,  that  the  Bible 
is  now  written,  or,  if  we  prefer  a  more  modern  expression, 
printed.  The  commentaries  of  man  vary;  they  change 
their  form  and  their  hues  like  the  clouds  that  follow  the 
setting  sun ;  but  the  great  rock  remains  the  same  when  the 
shadow  is  upon  it,  and  after  the  shadow  is  gone.  The  sand 
drifts  rise  and  float  about  the  pyramids,  but  the  pyramids 
remain.  The  comments  and  controversies  of  man,  of 
divines,  of  ministers,  of  laymen,  have  raised  the  smoke, 
and  stirred  the  dust;  but  they  have  been  all  outside  the 
book,  which  still  remains  a  stereotpye,  a  fixture,  like  the 
Rock  on  which  it  is  spread  for  reading  —  the  same  yester- 
day, to-day,  and  for  ever. 

If  the  truths  of  Christianity  had  been  left  till  now  to  oral 
transmission,  they  had  become  a  complete  travesty  by  this 
time.     Like  a  snowball  starting  from  the  mountain  top,  it 


f. 


'X^  OF  THE  "^^ 


lUIIVBESITr 


12  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

would  have  rolled  downward,  accumulating  all  sorts  of 
rubbish,  till  it  became  one  frozen  and  useless  mass,  lying 
in  the  valley  below.  But,  blessed  be  God,  whatever  is 
changed,  the  Bible  is  the  same ;  whatever  creeds  have  been 
mended,  the  Bible  remains ;  whatever  new  schools  have 
been  instituted,  the  Bible  abides,  it  is  still  an  accessible 
fixture ;  "  The  grass  withereth,  and  the  flower  fadeth,  but 
the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  for  ever." 

The  Bible  is  pronounced  by  an  Apostle  to  ,be  deoTtvEvarogj 
inspired,  or  breathed  into,  b^  God.  We  do  not  here  enter 
upon  the  nature  and  the  limits  of  inspiration.  I  am  one 
of  those  who  unfortunately  differ  from  some  very  great 
men,  to  whom  I  am  not  fit  to  hold  the  candle,  who  do  not 
believe  that  every  word  in  this  blessed  book  is  the  very  best 
for  the  purpose  that  could  have  been  selected  —  that  the 
Bible  is  verbally  inspired  as  a  record  by  God ;  so  that  when 
I  listen  to  it  I  listen  as  if  to  the  spoken  word  of  God, 
sounding  like  a  voice  amid  the  gorges  of  the  hills,  rever- 
berated in  a  thousand  repetitions,  but  every 'echo  and  rever- 
beration the  voice  of  my  God  and  of  my  Father. 

This  holy  book  is  the  only  image  of  himself  that  God 
has  bequeathed  to  mankind.  There  is  one  exception,  if  I 
may  use  the  expression,  to  a  part  of  the  second  interdict 
of  his  law ;  and  it  is  the  Bible,  which  is  the  very  likeness 
of  God.  I  could  never  bear  to  see  pictures  of  our  blessed 
Lord  in  churches ;  I  think  they  are  not  lawful.  When  pne 
sees  a  picture  of  Christ,  what  is  it  really  ?  A  man  upon 
the  cross ;  so  was  the  thief  at  each  side  of  him.  I  can  see 
one  bearing  a  tree,  but  not  bearing  my  sins ;  —  I  can  see  an 
agonized  sufferer,  but  I  cannot  see  the  satisfying  God;  —  I 
can  see  the  outer  man,  which  is  the  least  important,  but  of 
the  inner  man,  where  the  curse  was  felt,  where  the  satisfac- 
tion was  made,  where  the  atonement  lay,  no  picture  (and  I 
have  seen  the  choicest  and   noblest  on  the  continent  of 


THE    BIBLE.  13 

Europe)  can  convey  to  me  any  just  or  adequate  idea.  But 
we  have  one  true  sketch  of  Christ  in  the  fifty-third  of  Isaiah : 
this  is  the  true  crucifix.  I  wish  we  could  break  down  all 
the  wooden  or  priestly  ones,  and  substitute  Isaiah's  in  its 
stead.  The  whole  Bible  itself  is  the  image  of  Christ,  as 
he  is  the  image  of  God.  It  is  remarkable  that  the  church 
which  has  worshipped  images  of  wood,  and  stone,  and  brass, 
and  silver,  and  gold,  —  images  of  men  that  were  not,  images 
of  men  that  were  not  worthy  to  be,  and  images  of  men  that 
ought  not  to  have  had  images  at  all,  —  has  never,  in  this 
rage  for  image-worship,  thought  of  worshipping  the  likeliest 
image  of  God,  the  Bible !  Why  ?  Because  if  she  had 
bowed  down  to  adore  it,  its  great  voice  would  have  said, 
"  Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt 
thou  serve." 

This  blessed  book,  while  it  is  thus  the  voice  of  God,  is 
yet  given  in  varied  strains.  If  the  Bible  had  been  written 
as  a  large  didactic  essay,  or  a  very  eloquent  oration,  it 
would  have  been  nothing  like  the  book  that  it  now  is.  The 
very  fact  that  Paul's  style  is  in  it,  and  that  Peter's  style, 
and  John's  style,  and  Matthew's  style,  in  all  their  varieties, 
are  perfectly  preserved,  but  all  inspired  by  the  same  breath, 
makes  the  Bible  come  home  to  my  bosom  and  business  with 
far  greater  and  richer  eifect.  We  have  all  the  variations 
of  this  harmony,  but  one  key-note ;  we  have  manifold  in- 
struments to  constitute  the  choir,  but  all  the  instruments  are 
pervaded  by  the  breath  of  the  Almighty. 

The  Bible  has  been  translated.  The  translation  of  the- 
Bible  is  "a  great  fact,"  that  Protestants  glory  in.  It  is 
one  of  our  deepest  convictions,  that  the  Bible  should  be  in 
a  language  understood  by  the  people.  It  w^as  translated  by 
Tindale,  in  1530 ;  by  Coverdale,  in  1535 ;  by  Cranmer,  in 
1539;  at  Geneva,  in  1560;  by  the  bishops,  in  1568;  and 
by  the  celebrated  authorized  translators,  as  they  are  called, 
2 


14  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

the  most  accomplished  scholars  and  eminent  divines  of  their 
day,  in  the  year  1611.  With  all  its  faults,  our  translation  is 
matchless ;  and  (what  is  far  better  than  any  eulogium  of 
mine)  all  the  alterations  that  have  taken  place  in  its  oppo- 
nent and  rival  the  Douay  version  —  I  have  followed  them, 
and  do  not  speak  at  random  —  are  approximations  to  the 
authorized  translation  of  1611.  It  is  very  singular  that, 
wherever  there  is  a  difference  between  the  two  versions, 
(ahhough  I  would  engage  to  prove  to  any  Roman  Catholic 
that  the  creed  of  Pius  IV.  and  the  canons  of  the  Council 
of  Trent  are  wrong,  out  of  his  own  version,)  there  is  often 
seen  not  a  little  inclination  in  the  Douay  translation  to  help 
a  very  crotchety  dogma,  that  had  been  established  some 
hundred  years  before. 

We  add  one  more  remark,  which  we  should  never  fail  to 
do  when  s^jeaking  of  the  defects  of  our  translation,  —  that 
if  all  these  defects  in  our  own  translation  were  adjusted, 
and  the  words  literally  and  strictly  rendered,  it  would  only 
tell  more  markedly  in  favor  of  evangelical  and  Protestant 
Christianity. 

This  blessed  book  is  circulated  the  most  extensively  of  all 
books.  It  is,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  the  cheapest  book ; 
it  is,  in  the  providence  of  God,  the  most  widely  circulated 
book.  It  is  found  in  the  soldier's  knapsack  on  the  field 
of  battle ;  it  is  discovered  in  the  sailor's  hammock  as  his 
vessel  rolls  upon  the  stormy  sea;  it  is  to  be  seen  in  the 
pedler's  pack ;  it  is  in  the  cabinet  of  princes,  and  in  the 
coltage  of  peasants ;  the  sun  never  sets  upon  its  glorious 
page.  Its  words  have  gone  out  into  all  the  earth ;  it  has  been 
translated  into  every  tongue  :  its  grand  promises  mingle 
w^ith  the  murmurs  of  the  Black  Sea,  and  with  the  chimes 
of  the  Mediterranean ;  and  increasing  numbers  are  listening 
every  day  t©  that  great  voice  that  tells  them  how  to  live 
and  be  holy,  how  to  die  and  be  happy.     Like  a  stream  that 


THE    BIBLE.  ,  15 

has  risen  from  a  distant  spring,  it  pursues  its  course,  some- 
times amid  obstructions,  sometimes  under  ground,  sometimes 
above,  but  always  making  a  belt  of  rich  vegetation,  flowers, 
and  verdure  beside  it,  until  it  sweeps  on,  reflecting  the 
sheen  of  palaces  and  the  smoke  of  cottages,  and  is  lost 
only  in  that  unsounded  ocean  towards  which  we  are 
voyagers,  and  pilgrims,  and  travellers.  There  is  not  a 
child  upon  its  mother's  knee,  or  a  queen  upon  her  father's 
throne,  that  is  not  a  happier  child  or  a  happier  woman  that 
this  book  was  written,  translated,  and  circulated. 

The  Bible  is  perfectly  sufficient  for  all  the  great  purposes 
for  which  it  was  meant.  Both  the  Protestant  and  the 
Roman  Catholic  admit  that  the  Bible  is  siijfficient ;  but  both 
allow  that  it  is  not  always  efficient.  A  book  may  be 
sufficient  for  a  great  purpose,  but  it  may  fail  to  be  efficient ; 
that  is,  it  may  be  sufficient  to  make  us  wise  unto  salvation, 
but  it  may  not  always  actually  do  so.  But  the  two  parties 
give  different  solutions :  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  says 
the  fiiult  is  in  the  book,  and  therefore  she  adds  to  it,  in  the 
hope  of  making  it  perfect ;  the  Protestant  says  the  fault  is 
in  the  reader  of  the  book,  and  he  should  pray  that  God 
may  make  him  capable  of  being  enlightened  by  it.  The 
Roman  Catholic  adds  to  this  sufficient  book,  in  order  to 
make  it  an  efficient  one ;  the  Protestant  prays  to  the 
Author  of  the  book,  that  he  would  make  the  heart  of  the 
reader  susceptible  of  the  truth,  and  that  thus  the  sufficient 
book  may  become  an  efficient  book.  The  Protestant  says, 
the  way  is  to  open  the  blind  man's  eyes ;  the  Roman 
Catholic  says.  No,  it  is  to  let  him  remain  blind  as  he  is,  but 
to  increase  the  light  ten  thousand  fold.  But  all  the  light  in 
the  skies  will  not  make  a  blind  man  see.  He  only  that 
said  "  Ephphatha "  to  the  ear,  and  "  Be  opened "  to  the 
ej^cs,  can  enable  the  blindest  to  see  the  tiniest  light,  and 
even  that  light  will  be  a  guide  that  will  lead  him  to  glory. 


16  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

The  Bible  is  a  most  intelligible  book.  It  is  the  plainest 
of  all  books  that  were  ever  written.  There  are  parts  of  it 
not  so  plain  as  others,  because  there  are  parts  having 
diflferent  purposes  from  others ;  but  yet  if  the  humblest 
artisan,  the  poorest  peasant,  fail  to  find  the  way  to  heaven 
in  his  Bible,  the  fault  is  not  in  the  book,  but  in  his  heart, 
his  conscience,  or  his  intellect,  which  the  Author  of  the 
book  should  be  appealed  to  instantly  to  remove.  It  is 
argued,  if  this  be  so,  why  do  not  all  denominations  of 
Christians  agree?  My  answer  is,  they  do  agree  in  the 
most  important  things,  and  it  is  matter  of  fact  that  they 
differ  only  in  what  are  called  non-essentials,  or  subordinate 
things.  There  cannot  be  unity  in  the  visible  church  until 
there  be  perfect  hearts  to  read  the  perfect  book :  the  reason 
therefore  why  we  come  to  different  conclusions  upon  matters 
of  detail  is,  not  that  the  perfect  book  has  ceased  to  be 
perfect,  but  that  the  once  holy  heart  has  lost  its  polarity, 
and  come  to  be  corrupt  and  defiled.  We  have  often  heard 
this  argument,  "Is  it  not  a  fact  that  our  laws  require 
lawyers  and  judges,  in  order  to  expound  them?  and  so, 
by  parity  of  reasoning,  the  Bible  should  have  a  body  of 
men,  called  priests  or  presbyters,  councils  or  pope,  or  what- 
ever you  like,  who  should  have  the  monopoly  of  the  expla,- 
nation  of  the  book."  If  this  be  so,  it  is  a  very  odd  thing 
that  this  order  of  men  is  not  laid  down  as  invested  with 
infallible  functions.  In  the  next  place,  there  is  one  order 
of  men,  the  Romish  priesthood,  the  very  order  that  makes 
this  objection,  that  are  the  least  competent  of  all  to  do  it ; 
and  for  the  plain  reason,  that  they  are  not  free  to  interpret 
honestly.  If  I  submit  a  law  of  our  most  gracious  queen 
to  our  judges,  how  do  they  interpret  it?  According  to  its 
plain  and  obvious  meaning.  But  if  I  submit  a  verse  to  a 
Roman  Catliolic  priest,  he  does  not  interpret  it  according  to 
its  plain  and  obvious  meaning,  because  he  is  bound  by  a 


THE    BIBLE.  17 

previous  law ;  lie  is  solemnly  sworn  that  he  will  not 
interpret  it  otherwise  than  in  that  sense  which  the  Church 
holds,  and  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Fathers.  If 
the  judges  were  to  say,  "  We  undertake  to  interpret  the 
laws,  but  we  do  so  only  according  to  the  sense  of  the 
President  of  the  French  Republic,  or  according  to  the 
'authorities  published  in  Berlin  or  Vienna,"  I  would  beg  to 
be  excused  from  their  interpretation  altogether,  and  would 
rather  interpret  the  law  myself,  according  to  its  plain, 
grammatical,  and  obvious  sense.  The  priest  of  Rome,  or 
any  one  who  takes  his  place,  in  using  such  a  parallel  as 
this  for  argument,  should  remember  that  he  is  bound  to 
interpret  Scripture  by  a  previous  interpretation,  an  analogy 
which  I  could  show  you,  if  time  permitted,  is  not  actually 
available.  There  is  no  order  of  men  appointed  in  the 
Bible  for  this  purpose,  and  therefore  we  need  not  expect 
to  succeed  in  such  a  mode  of  understanding  the  Bible. 
But,  I  have  said,  the  fault  is  in  the  imperfect  heart,  not  in 
the  perfect  book ;  and  it  is  a  wicked  thing  to  lay  the  blame 
upon  God,  when  man  fails  to  understand  the  Bible.  To 
show  how  completely  this  is  the  case,  let  me  take  what 
might  be  thought  the  most  intelligible  of  all  documents,  an 
act  of  parliament.  Take,  for  instance,  the  last  act  on  the 
papal  aggression.  It  was  first  laid  before  the  law-officers 
of  the  crown ;  they  scrutinized  it,  and  weighed  every  word 
and  syllable  according  to  the  limit  of  their  instructions, 
and  drew  up  the  bill.  It  was  afterwards  submitted  to  the 
House  of  Commons.  After  it  had  been  cut  and  pared,- 
altered  a.nd  improved,  it  was  pronounced,  by  the  vast 
majority  of  six  hundred  men  in  the  House  of  Commons,  a 
complete  document,  —  as  complete  as  human  skill  could 
make  it.  It  was  carried  to  the  House  of  Lords;  they 
touched  it  up  a  little,  improved  it  here,  deducted  there, 
added  elsewhere ;  and  then  they  said  it  was  com'plete.  The 
2* 


18         THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 

document  was  submitted  to  her  Majesty ;  she  appended  her 
royal  signature,  and  the  act  is  the  law  of  the  land.  Arch- 
bishop Wiseman  will  say  of  one  clause,  it  means  this ;  and 
Dr.  Pusey,  it  means  that;  and  the  Bishop  of  Exeter,  it 
means  something  else ;  and  Dr.  McNeile  will  assert  that  it 
means  something  different  from  all  three,  and  Mr.  Bennet 
will  differ  from  all  four.  In  this  case,  we  have  a  document 
which,  if  any  document  can  be  pronounced  to  be  so,  should 
be  perfect ;  yet  it  is  not  twelve  months  in  existence  before 
the  Cardinal  drives  a  coach  and  four  through  its  clauses. 
And  why  ?  Not  that  the  clause  was  bad  or  imperfect,  but 
that  some  of  its  interpreters  want  to  gratify  their  own  pre- 
possessions, interests,  or  convictions,  and  so  set  to  work  to 
screw  and  twist  and  interpret  the  queen's  English,  justly  or 
otherwise,  into  that  meaning  which  chimes  in  best  with  their 
'preferences.  This  is  the  case  with  the  Bible.  You  read 
the  Bible,  and  you  take  with  you  your  prejudices;  and 
instead  of  making  it  pass  like  a  ploughshare  through  those 
prejudices,  you  sift  and  search  and  turn  it  over  to  get 
something  that  will  sustain  and  back  you  in  holding  them. 

It  has  been  argued  against  the  Bible,  that  it  contains 
great  mysteries.  It  does  contain  many  mysteries ;  but  there 
is  a  distinction  between  that  which  is  above  our  comprehen- 
sion, and  that  which  is  against  our  comprehension.  The 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity  is  a  doctrine  above  our  comprehen- 
sion ;  the  dogma  of  transubstantiation  is  a  dogma  against 
our  senses  and  our  understanding.  We  reject  the  latter,  and 
we  accept  upon  authority  the  former.  But  if  the  Bible  had 
no  mysteries  in  it,  it  would  be  without  one  of  the  strongest 
proofs  of  its  Divine  origin ;  for  if  it  be  a  picture  of  the 
infinite,  we  must  expect  in  it  touches  that  the  finite  will  not 
be  able  to  grasp ;  if  it  be  a  declaration  of  the  incomprehen- 
sible, we  must  expect  passages  in  it  that  finite  being  will 
not  be  able  to  comprehend.     Objector  to  the  mysteries  in 


THE    BIBLE.  19 

the  Bible,  are  there  no  mysteries  about  you  ?  Here  is  one 
of  the  greatest  mysteries,  how,  by  a  thing  called  volition  in 
my  mind,  I  can  move  my  hand  up  and  down  to  the  right  or 
to  the  left  ?  How  is  it  that  my  volition,  that  transcendental, 
airy,  nndefinable,  inappreciable  thing,  can  act  upon  the 
muscles  of  the  body?  If  you  object  to  mysteries  in  the 
Bible,  and  admit  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  admit  that  he  is 
eternal,  will  you  explain  to  me  what  eternity  is  ?  Can  any 
man  explain  to  me  what  this  means,  —  millions,  and  millions, 
and  millions  of  years  elapsing,  and  yet  I  am  no  nearer  to 
the  end  and  no  further  from  the  beginning  than  after  one 
single  year  had  elapsed  ?  Do  you  comprehend  that  ?  Do 
you  comprehend  what  omnipresence  is,  —  a  being  here, 
there,  every \\:here ;  whose  "  centre  is  everywhere,  and  whose 
circumference  is  nowhere?"  If  mysteries  in  the  Bible 
make  you  reject  the  Bible,  equal  mysteries  in  natural  the- 
ology will  make  you  reject  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  you 
will  be  driven  in  self-defence  to  plunge  into  that  vacuum  in 
which  man  can  neither  swim,  nor  stand,  nor  fly,  —  that 
freezing  vacuum  called  Atheism :  so  that,  in  my  judgment, 
between  accepting  the  evangeUcal  Christianity  of  the  Bible, 
and  plunging  into  the  vacuum  of  the  Atheist,  there  is  no 
resting  spot  for  the  sole  of  the  foot  of  man.  Mysteries  are 
in  the  blades  of  grass ;  mysteries  are  in  grains  of  sand ; 
there  is  a  mystery  in  every  pulsation  of  the  heart.  Can  you 
tell  me  why  your  heart  beats  ?  You  can  give  me  no  answer. 
I  can  answer  you,  but  I  must  go  to  that  book  which  you  are 
rejecting  because  of  its  mystery.  It  is  the  rebound  to  the- 
touch  of  the  finger  of  God.  It  is  a  most  wretched  notion 
that  some  entertain,  that  God  wound  up  all  these  machines, 
called  men,  like  watches,  set  them  going,  and  left  them  to 
make  the  best  of  their  way  through  the  long  and  dusty  road 
of  life.  I  do  not  believe  this.  I  believe  that  God  is  at 
every  step  of  my  movement,  that  he  meets  me  at  every 


20  THE  CHURCH  before  the  flood. 

corner,  that  he  speaks  to  me  in  every  difficulty,  and  that  he 
will  never  leave  me  nor  forsake  me ;  that  his  providence  is 
over  me,  as  it  is  over  the  mightiest  and  noblest  of  his  crea- 
tures. Mysteries !  We  cannot  know  any  thing  without 
coming  in  contact  with  mysteries.  I  believe  all  heaven  will 
be  spent  in  traversing  the  known  and  plunging  into  the  un- 
known. Eternity  will  be  the  unknown,  evermore  becoming 
the  known  as  it  passes  by.  I  rise  in  knowledge  as  I  ascend 
a  mountain,  the  higher  I  climb  the  more  -unseen  pinnacles 
and  crags  appear.  Every  truth  that  comes  within  the  hori- 
zon of  man's  knowledge,  brings  twenty  mysteries  in  its 
train,  till  the  more  we  know,  the  more  we  see  remains  to  be 
known,  and  the  highest  scholar,  like  the  highest  Christian, 
becomes  the  very  humblest  and  lowliest  of  mankind. 

Leslie  has  written  a  most  admirable  book,  called  "A  Short 
and  Easy  Method  with  Deists ; "  in  which  he  lays  down 
three  or  four  useful  general  principles.  With  regard  to 
miracles,  the  basis  of  evidence,  he  says:  1.  That  a  miracle 
must  be  a  matter  of  fact  that  the  senses  can  judge  of. 
2.  That  a  miracle  must  be  done  publicly  in  the  face  of  the 
world.  3.  There  must  be  public  monuments  in  remem- 
brance of  it.  4.  Such  monuments  must  appear  at  the  time 
of  the  events. 

No  false  miracle  can  stand  these  tests ;  the  miracles  of 
the  Bible  can.  Do  you  think  that  Moses  could  have  per- 
suaded half  a  million  of  j)eople  that  they  were  fed  by  a 
powder  from  the  clouds,  and  that  they  got  water  from  the 
rending  of  a  rock,  if  it  had  never  been  true  ?  Or  could  he 
have  made  them  accept  a  book  as  a  Divine  record,  which 
stated  these  things,  when  in  their  actual  and  personal  expe- 
rience they  had  met  with  no  such  things  whatever  ?  The 
credulity  required  to  disbelieve  the  Pentateuch  is  ten  times 
greater  than  all  the  supposed  credulity  required  to  accept  it; 
and  it  may  be  proved  that  the  most  credulous  of  all  men  is 


THE    BIBLE.  21 

the  man  that  believes  that  the  Bible  is  not  the  book  of  God. 
But  what  is  a  miracle  ?  A  miracle  does  not  prove  the  book 
to  be  from  God:  it  proves  it  to  be  supernatural;  it  is 
simply  an  arrest  of  the  continuity  or  order  of  things,  calling 
upon  man  to  listen.  The  book  itself  may  be  from  below,  or 
it  may  be  from  above :  it  must  be  more  than  human  if 
nature  has  been  made  to  pause  in  order  to  hear  W'hat  is 
said.  Its  divinity  depends  on  its  interior  contents.  But 
there  is  another  proof  besides  miracles ;  I  mean  prophecy. 
The  old  deists  used  to  say  that  prophecy  was  so  obscure  that 
they  could  not  understand  beginning  or  end  of  it ;  modern 
deists  say  it  is  so  plain  that  it  must  have  been  written  after 
the  events  took  place.  How  contradictory  are  these  philo- 
sopliical  sceptics,  these  freethinkers !  One  has  only  to  look 
at  ancient  prophecy  and  compare  it  with  modern  history,  to 
see  how  interesting  and  conclusive  the  evidence  is.  We 
find  the  descendants  of  Shem,  Ham,  Japheth,  Ishmael, 
Babylon,  Tyre,  and  Kineveh,  not  generally,  but  minutely 
testifying  to  the  truth  of  the  prophecies  of  God.  The  Jews 
sifted  through  every  land,  like  seeds  through  a  sieve,  but 
taking  root  in  and  incorporated  with  none;  Nineveh  re- 
cently dug  from  its  grave,  (and  Nahum  said  that  God  would 
lay  it  in  its  grave,)  Tyre  awakening  from  its  ruins,  Babylon 
emerging  from  its  mplten  masses,  the  Seven  Churches  of 
Asia,  the  Arab  in  the  desert,  the  Ishmaelite  in  the  Avild,  the 
African  on  his  burning  sands,  —  are  all  standing  demonstra- 
tions of  the  inspiration  of  the  writers  of  Holy  Scripture, 
and  the  traveller  can  see  for  himself  that  "  holy  men  of  old 
spake  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost." 

But  of  all  arguments  in  flivor  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible, 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  experimental  one  is  the  best ;  and 
he  that  reads  it  longest,  studies  it  deepest,  prays  over  it 
most  earnestly,  will  have  a  conviction  that  the  Bible  is 
divine,  that  syllogisms  will  never  shake,  that  sujperstition 


22  THE  cnuRcn  before  the  flood. 

will  never  waste,  and  that  infidelity  will  never  laugh  out 
of  his  mind.  Let  me  show  what  I  mean  hj  experimental 
evidence.  Suppose  I  send  out  my  servant  for  a  bottle  of 
ink ;  the  servant  returns  with  a  bottle  of  Morrell's  best 
black  ink.  I  ask,  how  do  you  know  it  is  ink  ?  The  servant 
answers,  "I  asked  for  ink,  and  the  shopman  handed  a 
bottle  over  the  counter  as  ink,  and  '  Ink '  is  on  the  label 
outside."  That  would  be  external  evidence.  Not  satisfied 
with  this,  I  determine  to  have  internal  evidence ;  and  I 
send  the  ink  to  a  chemist,  who  analyzes  a  part  of  it,  and  he 
says  it  contains  so  much  gall,  so  much  water,  so  much  lamp- 
black, so  much  gum,  so  much  vinegar,  and  other  materials ; 
and  he  says,  these  are  the  component  parts  of  ink.  But 
not  satisfied  with  this,  I  dip  my  pen,  and  write  a  letter  to 
the  friend  that  I  love,  and  I  find  that  it  writes  beautifully, 
and  the  ink  stands  jet  black  and  true ;  it  remains  days  or 
years  undestroyed,  undiscolored  in  the  least  degree.  This 
is  experimental  evidence.  We  have  all  these  evidences  i'ot 
the  book  of  God. .  You  have  historical  or  external  evidence, 
in  witnesses ;  you  have  the  internal  evidence,  in  the  most 
sifting,  searching  tests  and  analysis ;  and  you  have  the 
experimental  evidence,  that  you  never  trusted  a  promise 
and  that  promise  failed,  you  never  sought  for  comfort  and 
that  comfort  was  withheld,  you  never  asked  for  light  and 
that  light  was  not  given  yon.  Ask  the  peasant  on  the 
hills, —  and  I  have  asked,  amid  the  mountains  of  Braemar, 
and  Dee-side,  —  how  do  you  know  that  the  book  is  Divine, 
and  that  the  religion  you  profess  is  true  ?  You  never  read 
Paley?  "No,  I  never  heard  of  him."  You  have  never 
read  Butler  ?  "  No,  I  have  never  heard  of  him."  Nor 
Chalmers?  "No,  I  do  not  know  him."  You  have  never 
read  any  books  on  evidence  ?  "  No,  I  have  read  no  such 
books."  Then  how  do  you  know  this  book  is  true? 
"Know  it!     Tell  me  that  the  Dee,  the   Clunie,  and  the 


THE    BIBLE.  2* 

Garawalt,  the  streams  at  my  feet,  do  not  run;  that  the 
Avinds  do  not  sigh  amid  the  gorges  of  these  bhie  hills ;  that 
the  sun  does  not  kindle  the  peaks  of  Loch-na-Gar;  tell  me 
my  heart  does  not  beat,  and  I  will  believe  you ;  but  do  not 
tell  me  the  Bible  is  not  Divine.  I  have  found  its  truth 
illuminating  my  footsteps;  its  consolations  sustaining  my 
heart.  May  my  tongue  cleave  to  my  mouth's  roof,  and  my 
right  hand  forget  its  cunning,  if  I  ever  deny  what  is  my 
deepest  inner  experience,  that  this  blessed  book  is  the  book 
of  God." 

Let  us  cleave  to  the  Bible,  and  suffer  nothing  to  be  a 
substitute  for  it,  nothing  to  supersede  it.  The  Church  can- 
not be  our  Bible.  The  Fathers  contradict  each  other,  and 
they  will  not  do.  Let  us  cleave  to  our  Bible,  and  hold  it 
fast  at  all  hazard ;  it  is  the  anchorage  ground  of  the  Church. 
That  Church  will  ride  out  the  storms  of  coming  ages  whose 
anchorage  ground  is  the  word  of  God,  and  the  word  of  God 
alone.  Let  us  read  this  book,  in  the  full  light  of  every 
other  portion  of  the  book.  I  like  exceedingly  Bagster's 
Bible,  in  which  he  gives  such  a  mass  of  references.  One 
diamond  best  cuts  another,  and  one  text  best  explains 
another.  We  shall  get  immense  light  from  reading  the 
Bible  in  its  own  light  alone.  For  instance,  if  you  read  one 
text,  "  God  tempted  Abraham ; "  do  not  stop  there,  but  go 
and  read  another  text,  "  No  man  is  tempted  of  God  ; "  then 
you  ascertain  the  former  to  mean,  that  God  tried  Abraham 
as  an  experiment,  that  God  tempts  no  man  to  sin.  You 
read,  in  one  part,  "  God  repented  that  he  had  made  man ; " 
to  understaTid  that,  read  another  text,  "  God  is  not  man  that 
he  should  repent ; "  thus  you  understand  that  God  changed 
his  movement  according  to  the  prescriptions  of  his  own 
wisdom,  and  not  that  he  is  moved  with  human  passion. 
Read  the  verse,  "  Work  out  your  salvation ; "  but  do  not 
stop  there,  or  you  will  become  a  mere  legalist,  but  read  on, 


24  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

"  for  it  is  God  that  worketh  in  you  to  will  and  to  do  of  his 
good  pleasure."  You  will  then  rise  to  the  standard  of  a 
real  Christian. 

Read  the  Bible,  in  the  next  place,  impartially.  Some 
read  the  New  Testament,  and  not  the  Old ;  some  read  the 
promises  and  not  the  precepts ;  some  the  precepts  and  not 
the  promises.     R-ead  the  whole  book  of  God. 

Let  us  read  it,  in  the  next  place,  with  special  reference 
to  our  personal  and  practical  improvement..  Let  us  read 
our  Bible  as  sinners  seeking  to  be  saved  in  the  name  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  with  constant  reference  to  our  personal  improve- 
ment. When  the  Israelites  were  dying  in  the  wilderness, 
they  did  not  care  to  try  what  brass  the  serpent  was  made 
of;  they  looked  at  it,  and  were  healed.  When  their  chil- 
dren were  fed  by  manna  in  the  desert,  they  did  not  set  their 
wits  chemically  to  analyze  it ;  they  ate  it,  and  lived.  And 
when  we  open  our  Bible,  let  us  leave  critics  and  commenta- 
tors behind  us,  and  study  God's  blessed  word  in  the  spirit 
of  impartial  investigation  and  fervent  prayer ;  and  He  that 
wrote  the  book  will  lead  us  to  the  knowledge  of  the  book, 
for,  unlike  the  authors  of  other  books,  the  Author  of  this  is 
always  near  to  explain  himself. 

The  Bible  is  a  book  for  the  times.  It  exposes  all  error 
as  it  emerges,  and  contains  all  seasonable  truth.  It  finds 
the  human  race  like  a  lost  ship  upon  a  stormy  and  unknown 
sea,  it  presents  the  light  that  leads  them  to  heaven.  Jt 
relights  in  the  human  bosom  the  lamp  of  truth,  rekindles  in 
the  heart  the  love  of  God,  restores  to  the  individual  the 
sabbath  of  the  soul.  It  gives  dignity  to  the  meanest  duty, 
and  it  tells  us  of  forgiveness  for  the  greatest  sin.  It  sets 
obedience  in  the  bosom  of  benedictions,  and  clothes  its 
severest  precepts  in  precious  promises.  To  the  grandeur 
of  the  man  it  adds  the  glory  of  the  saint.  It  is  a  book  not 
made  by  a  people,  but  a  book  that  made  a  people,  and  will 


THE    BIBLE.  25 

people  heaven  with  its  noblest  and  best  inhabitants.  The 
Bible  is  the  fountain  of  our  asylums,  our  charities,  our  hos- 
pitals, and  the  thousands  and  thousands  of  means  of  bene- 
fiting the  poor,  the  needy,  and  the  destitute.  How  much 
are  we  indebted  to  that  book  !  It  consecrates  our  weddings, 
it  furnishes  names  for  our  children,  it  hallows  the  green  sod 
beneath  which  the  ashes  of  our  dead  repose.  Thousands 
U})on  thousands  declare  that  to  the  Bible,  under  God,  they 
are  indebted  for  their  richest  and  their  deepest  joys.  I 
have  no  fear  of  the  Bible  perishing.  Sickness  will  not  let 
it  go  ;  sorrow  will  not  let  it  go ;  affliction  will  not  part  with 
it.  Man's  aching  heart  will  cling  to  the  Bible  as  the  only 
comforter,  in  a  world  in  which  there  are  such  miserable 
comforters  besides.  Other  books  are  popular  for  a  day, 
but  they  are  outstripped  by  the  discoveries  of  man ;  but  the 
Bible  is  as  fresh  to-day  as  it  was  when  it  was  written. 
Time  writes  no  wrinkles  upon  the  brow  of  the  word  of  God. 
In  other  books  the  discoveries  of  to-day  render  foolish  the 
statements  of  yesterday.  We  are  obliged  to  offer  excuses 
for  Shakspeare,  and  to  say,  it  was  the  age  that  made  him 
WM'ite  so.  We  must  offer  apologies  for  Plato  and  for  Cicero, 
arising  from  the  circumstances  in  wdiich  they  were  placed. 
The  Bible  disdains  apologies;  it  asks  for  none,  it  needs 
none.  The  age  is  behind  it  —  never  yet  has  got  before  it. 
From  Jerusalem,  as  from  a  distant  capital  of  the  world,  has 
gone  forth  a  book  that  has  been  the  delight  of  the  wise,  the 
joy  of  the  wretched,  the  salvation  of  the  guilty,  the  hope 
of  the  dying ;  the  ornament,  the  dignity,  the  glory,  of  the 
human  race. 

"  Yon  cottager  who  weaves  at  her  own  door, 
Pillow  and  bobbins  all  her  little  store, 
She,  for  her  humble  sphere  by  nature  fit, 
Has  little  understanding,  and  no  wit; 
Just  knows,  and  knows  no  more,  her  Bible  true, — 
A  truth  the  brilliant  Frenchman  never  knew ; 

3 


26  THE    CnURCII   BEFOUE    THE    FLOOD. 

And  in  that  charter  reads,  with  sparkling  eyes, 
A  title  to  a  treasure  in  the  skies. 
Oh,  happy  peasant !     Too  unhappy  bard ! 
His  the  mere  tinsel,  hers  the  sure  reward : 
He,  praised,  perhaps,  for  ages  yet  to  come; 
She,  never  heard  of  half  a  mile  from  home : 
He,  lost  in  errors  his  vain  heart  prefers ; 
She,  saved  in  the  simplicity  of  hers." 


Cll  AFTER  11. 

GENESIS   AND    GEOLOGY. 

"  Sad  error  this,  to  take 
The  light  of  nature  rather  than  the  light 
Of.  Revelation  for  a  guide.    As  well 
Prefer  the  borrowed  light  of  earth's  pale  moon 
To  the  effulgance  of  the  noonday  sun." 

"  Science  falsely  so  called."  —  1  Tim.  vi.  20. 

"  Hast  thou  entered  into  the  sprfngs  of  the  sea?  —  Job  xxxviii.  16. 

The  subject  I  am  about  to  discuss  in  this  chapter,  is  "  Gen- 
esis and  Geology."  Genesis  is  the  first  book  in  the  Bible ; 
called  in  the  Septuagint  version,  BIBAION  TENEZE^S^ 
or  the  book  of  tffe  generation  or  creation  of  things ;  called 
in  the  original  in  the  words  of  the  book  itself,  and  by  the 
Jews  who  adopted  it,  n'TiL'&illD,  Bereshith,  or,  in  the  begin- 
ning. Geology  is  the  science  that  deals  with  the  contents 
of  the  earth  on  which  we  tread,  the  collocation  and  arrange- 
ment of  these  contents,  and  the  facts  they  divulge  and  the 
lessons  they  teach. 

In  speaking  of  Genesis  and  Geology,  we  start  with  this 
clear  preliminary  conviction :  Genesis  is  absolutely  true ; 
there  is  no  room  for  scepticism  as  to  its  inspiration ;  it  is 
pronounced  by  infallibility  to  be  part  of  the  Scripture, 
given  by  inspiration  of  God.  Genesis,  therefore,  must  be 
true ;  upon  its  own  evidences  if  rests,  and  by  facts  and  proofs 
hnd  evidences  peculiar  to  itself,  it  can  be  deqjipnstrated  to 
be  perfectly,  eternally,  infallibly  true. 


28  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Genesis  is  a  revelation  from  God ;  Geology  is  a  dis- 
covery of  man.  A  revelation  from  God  can  be  augmented 
by  God  only;  a  discovery  by  man  may  be  improved, 
matured,  advanced,  ripened,  progressively,  till  the  end  of 
the  world.  We  therefore  assume  that  Genesis  Js  perfect 
beyond  the  possibility  of  contradiction  or  improvement  by 
us ;  and  we  equally  assume  that  Geology,  because  the  'dis- 
covery of  man,  and  the  subject  of  the  investigation  of  man, 
may  be  improved  by  greater  experience  and  more  profound 
acquaintance  with  those  phenomena,  which  lie  concealed  in 
the  bosom  of  the  earth,  waiting  for  man  to  evoke,  explain, 
and  arrange  them.  I  am  sure,  therefore,  that  Genesis,  as 
God's  word,  is  beyond  the  reach  of  the  blow  of  the  geolo- 
gist's hammer ;  or  the  detection  of  a  single  flaw  by  micro- 
scope or  telescope  ;  it  will  sttnd  the  crucible  of  the  chemist ; 
and  the  severer  the  ordeal  to  which  it  is  subjected,  the  more 
pure,  resplendent,  and  beautiful  it  will  emerge,  indicating  its 
origin  to  be  from  above,  and  its  issue  to  be  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  supreme  happiness  of  mankind.  Geology  has 
before  now  retraced  its  steps.  Genesis  nelftr.  Before  now 
it  has  been  discovered,  that  what  were  thought  to  be  facts 
incontrovertible  were  fallacies.  It  is  found  that  phenomena 
described  and  discussed  as  true,  were  mistakes  and  misap- 
prehensions, which  maturer  investigations  have  disposed  of; 
and  therefore  I  am  not  speaking  dogmatically,  and  without 
reason,  when  I  say,  that  while  Genesis  must  be  true.  Geol- 
ogy, having  already  erred,  may  err  again,  and  some  of  its 
very  loudest  assertions,  made  rashly  by  those  who  have 
least  acquaintance  with  its  data,  may  yet  be  proved  to  be 
wrong.  But  certain  facts  in  it  are  now  beyond  all  dispute. 
Let  Geology  and  Genesis  be  alleged  to  clash,  and  the  dis- 
covery from  the  depths  of  Ihe  earth  contradict  the  text 
from  the  page  of  the  Bible ;  in  such  a  case,  I  would  submit 
first  these  questions :  Are  you  sure  that  there  is  a  real  con- 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  29 

tradlctioR  between  the  fact  of  Geology  and  the  text  of  the 
Bible,  or  is  it  only  a  contradiction  between  the  fact  dis- 
covered by  science,  and  the  interpretation  that  you  put  upon 
the  text  of  the  Bible  ?  In  the  next  place,  if  there  be  in 
any  instance  contradiction  between  a  clear  text  of  the  Bible 
and  a  supposed  fact  or  discovery  made  by  the  geologist,  my 
inference,  and  without  hesitation,  is,  that  the  geologist  must 
have  made  a  mistake,  that  Moses  has  made  none:  and 
therefore  the  advice  we  give  to  the  geologist,  is,  not  to  say 
God's  work  beneath  contradicts  God's  word  without,  but 
just  go  back  again,  read  more  carefully  the  stony  page, 
excavate  more  laboriously  in  the  subterranean  chambers  of 
the  earth,  and  a  maturer  acquaintmce  with  the  facts  of  sci- 
ence may  yet  elicit  the  desirable  result,  that  there  is  harmony 
where  we  Fliought  discord,  and  perfect  agreement  where  to 
us  tiiere  seemed  only  discrepancy  and  conflict.  We  have 
instances  of  the  possibility  of  some  deductions  of  science 
being  wvong  in  other  departments  of  it.  Astronomy  was 
once  quoted  as  contradicting  the  express  declarations  of  the 
word  of  God ;  mg^turer  acquaintance  with  it  has  proved  its 
perfect  coincidence.  Again,  the  hieroglyphics  on  the  banks 
of  the  Nile,  as  deciphered  by  Young  and  Champollion,  were 
instanced  to  prove  a  far  gpater  age  of  the  human  race  than 
that  declared  in  the  Bible ;  but  subsequent  investigation 
showed  that  the  hieroglyphics  were  wrongly  interpreted, 
not  that  God's  word  was  untrue.  The  traditions  of  the 
Chinese  were  viewed  as  upsetting  the  records  of  the  Mosaic 
history,  but  subsequent  investigations  have  proved  that  those 
were  wrong,  and  that  God's  word  is  true. 

The  Bible,  whether  we  take  it  in  Genesis  or  in  the  Gos- 
pels, contains  no  error ;  it  has  not  a  single  scientific  error  in 
it.  Yet  it  was  not  designed  to  teach  science  ;  but  wherever 
it  touches  the  province  of  science,  it  touches  so  delicately 
that  we  can  see  the  main  object  is  to  teach  men  how  to  be 
3* 


30  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

saved,  while  its  slight  intimations  of  scientific  principles  or 
natural  phenomena  have  in  every  instance  been  demon- 
strated to  be  exactly  and  strictly  true.  If  the  Bible  said  in 
any  part  of  it,  as  the  ancient  philosopher  alleged,  that  there 
were  two  suns,  one  for  the  upper  hemisphere  and  the  other 
for  the  lower,  then  science  would  prove  that  SSipture  was 
wrong ;  or  if  the  Scripture  said,  as  the  Hindoos  believe,  that 
the  earth  is  a  vast  plain,  with  concentric  seas  of  milk,  honey, 
and  sugar,  supported  by  an  elephant,  and  that  the  earth- 
quakes and  convulsions  of  the  globe  are  the  movements  of 
that  elephant  as  he  bears  it  on  his  back,  —  then  science 
would  have  proved  that  to  be  absurd ;  and  if  Scripture  had 
asserted  it,  such  assertioj^  would  be  demonstrably  untrue. 
But  the  striking  fact  is  that  you  find  no  such  assertion,  nor 
any  thing  aj^proaching  sucl^  assertions  in  the  Bible.  How 
comes  it  to  pass,  then,  that  Moses  has  spoken  so  purely  and 
truly  on  science  where  he  does  speak,  and  has  been  silent 
where  there  was  such  a  provocative  to  speak,  his  very 
silence  being  as  significant  as  his  utterance  ?  How  happens 
it  that  Moses,  with  no  greater  education  than  the  Hindoo  or 
the  ancient  philoso^^her,  has  written  his  book,  touching  sci- 
ence at  a  thousand  points,  so  accurately,  that  scientific 
research  has  discovered  no  flaws  in  it ;  and  has  spoken  on 
subjects  the  most  delicate,  the  most  difficult,  the  most  in- 
volved; and  yet  in  those  investigations  which  have  taken 
place  in  more  recent  centuries,  it  has  not  been  shown  that 
he  has  committed  one  single  error,  or  made  one  solitary 
assertion  which  can  be  proved  by  maturest  science  or  the 
most  eagle-eyed  philosopher  to  be  incorrect,  scientifically  or 
historically  ?  The  answer  is,  that  Moses  wrote  by  the 
inspiration  of  God,  and  therefore  what  he  writes  are  the 
words  of  faithfulness,  and  of  truth. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  I  may  state  at  the  outset,  that  as 
we  grow  in  our  acquaintance  with  the  facts  of  Geology,  we 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  31 

grow  in  our  conviction  of  their  perfect  coincidence  with  the 
truths  of  Genesis.  Genesis  is  God's  tongue  telling  us  what 
things  are ;  Geology  is  God's  finger  pointing  out  the  por- 
traits of  things  that  are  :  God's  voice  is  audible  in  Genesis ; 
God's  hand  is  visible  in  Geology.  The  first,  that  is,  God's 
word,  is  perfect,  uninjured  by  a  flaw ;  the  second,  or  God's  , 
work,  is  imperfect,  tainted  by  sin,  and  injured  by  a  thou-  i 
sand  incidents  and  occurrences,  which  make  it  not  so  clear 
and  perspicuous  as  it  was  when  it  came  from  the  hand  of 
God,  and  was  pronounced  by  him  to  be  very  good. 

The  first  great  fa|f  that  I  will  deal  with,  and  the  one  that 
really  involves  the  whole  subject,  is  the  real  or  supposed 
antiquity  of  the  earth.  Is  the  earth  six  thousand  years  old 
and  no  more,  or  is  it  older  ?  The  common  interpretation  of 
Genesis  says,  it  is  six  thousand  years  old ;  the  discoveries 
of  Geology  prove  to  my  mind  incontestably,  that  the  com- 
ponent material  structure  of  this  globe,  and  much  that  is 
under  the  outer  crust  of  this  globe,  are,  it  may  be,  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  years  old.  I  believe  that  this  earth  is  not 
merely  six  thousand  years  old ;  the  last  collocation  of  it  on 
its  upper  surface  is  of  that  age ;  the  last  arrangement  of  its 
surface  is  so,  but  the  materials  of  the  globe,  the  strata  that 
are  below,  of  which  I  will  give  you  satisfactory  evidence, 
demonstrate  that  it  is  not  thousands,  but  hundreds  of  thous- 
ands of  years  old :  and  yet  I  am  abundantly  satisfied  there 
is  no  contradiction  between  these,  the  last  discoveries  of 
Geology,  and  the  first  text  of  Genesis,  "  In  the  beginning 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth." 

Supposing,  then,  we  penetrate  the  surface  of  the  globe,  or 
the  crust  that  surrounds  it,  like  the  skin  of  an  orange  or  the 
shell  of  an  egg,  we  find  as  we  descend,  successive  strata,  or, 
if  I  may  use  a  more  homely  expre^ion,  cakes  of  different 
formations  composed  of  different  substances,  lying  on  each 
other  for  some  nine  miles  in  depth,  by  what  geologists  call 


32  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

superposition ;  the  one  regularlj  and  always  (except  as  we 
account  for  it  on  other  principles)  lying  above  the  other. 
You  know  what  an  onion  is ;  it  is  composed  of  successive 
coverings ;  we  take  off  one  complete,  then  another,  then 
.another;  that  onion,  if  each  of  its  laminas  were  only  of  a 
different  substance  from  the  other,  would  be  in  structure 
almost>a  complete  picture  of  the  exterior  crust  of  the  g^lobe. 
First  of  all,  and  lowest  of  all,  we  have  the  primitive  rock, 
which  we  call  granite,  the  stone  of  which  Waterloo  Bridge 
is  built,  found  in  Aberdeenshire  and  in  parts  of  Cornwall ; 
then  above  the  granite,  the  gneiss ;  |[|ibove  that,  are  the 
Silurian  beds,  called  so  from  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  that 
part  of  our  country,  the  Siluri.  We  have  then  the  old  red 
sandstone,  the  coal  formation,  and,  as  the  last,  the  alluvial 
deposit,  in  wdiich  remains  of  the  human  race  are  found. 
This  order  is  always  preserved  except  there  be  an  inter- 
ruption, or  an  irruption,  or  break,  by  some  great  convulsion 
or  slow  process  in  some  past  history  of  the  globe.  Many 
of  these  specific  formations  you  will  notice  above  the 
granite,  are  composed  of  what  geologists  call  lamiiKE,  that 
is,  successive  leaves  deposited  one  above  the  other,  giving 
proof  that  the  one  cake  was  hardened  by  long  lapse  of 
years  before  the  next  cake,  or  lamina,  was  deposited  on  it, 
and  became  solidified  by  the  same  process.  You  will  find, 
too,  if  you  look  at  the  lower  lamina,  or  the  lower  cake,  and 
upon  its  upper  surface  you  will  see,  evidences  of  the  ripple 
of  the  waves,  washing  it,  wasting  it,  and  rubbing  it.  You 
will  find  again  upon  the  same  upper  surface,  the  foot  prints 
of  birds,  the  footsteps  also  of  beasts,  and  the  marks  of 
leaves ;  and  these  impressions  upon  the  upper  surface  of 
the  lower  one,  are  exactly  transferred  to  the  loiver  surface 
of  the  next  higher,  or  upper  cake,  that  must  therefore  have 
been  deposited  softly  and  slowly  upon  it,  showing  that  the 
upper  surface  of  the  lower  lamina,  or  ca^e,  become  hardened, 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  83 

had  been  the  scene  of  long  traffic,  like  a  turnpike-road,  and 
then  tlie  immense  ocean  above  deposited  its  detritus,  or  its 
mud,  (as  you  may  call  it,)  very  gently  and  gradually  upon 
the  upper  surface  of  the  said  lower  and  long  hardened  stra- 
tum, and  received  the  impression  just  as  the  printer's  page 
receives  the  impression  from  the  types,  thereby  proving  that 
a  long  period  intervened  before  the  upper  lamince  fell,  and 
were  formed  upon  ike  lower,  and  became  hardened  with 
time.  That  one  fact  indicates  immense  intervals,  because  it 
shows  that  the  lower  surface  had  been  trodden  by  animals, 
washed  by  the  waves*,  hardened  by  the  lapse  of  years,  and 
only  after  it  had  been  completely  hardened  did  another 
stratum  fall  down  upon  it  in  a  soft  and  plastic  state,  and 
assumed  impressions  on  its  lower  side,  from  the  hardened 
upper  of  the  leaf  below,  and  ultimately  it  also  hardened,  and 
became  the  basis  again  of  other  deposits. 

In  the  third  pla«?,  there  are  formations  consisting  of  very 
different  materials,  some  derived  from  the  older  rocks, 
o^liers  from  processes  of  very  slow  progress.  To  give  an 
illustration,  granite  is,  as  I  said,  the  primitive,  the  lowest 
rock ;  and  next  above  that  is  the  gneiss.  This  is  composed 
of  exactly  the  very  same  materials  as  the  granite.  Upon 
your  looking  at  the  gi-anite  you  will  see  the  felspar,  mica, 
and  quartz,  composing  it,  are  beautifully  mingled,  and 
blended,  and  crystallized,  sparkling  like  diamonds  ;  but  if 
you  look  at  the  gneiss,  or,  as  it  is  called,  the  whinstone,  you 
will  see  that  the  same  materials  —  mica,  felspar,  and 
quartz  —  have  in  its  case  been  reduced  into  a  complete 
powder,  which  geologists  in  their  technical  language  call 
detritus,  and  has  afterAvard  become  consolidated.  This  gives 
evidence  that  the  upper  surface  of  the  granite  had  been 
ground  down  by  the  washing  of  waters,  or  by  some  cease- 
less, restless  process,  and  the  detritus  of  the  granite  thus 
made  has  been  mixed  with  the  mighty  ocean  above,  and 


34  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

afterwards  gradually  deposited,  and  slowly  hardened  into 
what  is  called  whinstone,  or  gneiss.  This  one  fact  is  proof 
that  a  long  period  must  have  elapsed,  before  there  was 
worn  off  so  much  dust  or  detritus  from  the  hard  granite,  as 
could  thus  be  deposited  and  formed  into  immense  blocks  of 
superposition  gneiss,  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness ;  irresisti- 
ble evidence,  therefore,  that  long  geological  periods  must 
have  intervened  between  the  granite  formation  and  the  next 
above  it. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  Silurian  formations,  as  they  are 
called;  these  consist  of  coral.  Everybody  knows  what 
coral  is  —  the  secretion  of  very  minute  insects.  It  has 
been  actually  ascertained,  that  the  beds  are  formed  by  these 
small  insects,  at  the  rate  of  about  six  inches  in  a  hundred 
years.  Now  if  we  find  coral  beds  hundreds  of  feet  in 
thickness,  and  as  w^e  know  the  rate  at  which  the  coral 
insect  makes  its  formations,  we  can  easily  calculate  it  must 
have  taken  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  to  form  some  of 
the  vast  strata  that  are  beneath  the  crust  on  Avhich  \^e 
tread,  and  that  compose  the  substance  and  mass  of  this 
globe.  It  is  absurd  to  say  the  coral  was  created,  it  is  clearly 
the  Avork  of  insects. 

Again,  the  coal  formations  were  once  gigantic  forests,  and 
the  coal  that  we  now  burn  in  our  fires  was  once  pine,  or 
oak,  or  beech,  or  some  sort  of  wood,  which  has  been,  by 
some  great  convulsion,  and  by  moisture,  and  heat,  and  age, 
turned  into  that  carbonaceous  or  carboniferous  substance, 
we  commonly  call  coal.  That  coal  must  have  occupied 
immense  periods  in  its  formation  from  wood  into  coal,  is 
obvious  from  the  nature  of  the  process.  One  of  the  readiest 
proofs  of  tliis  is,  that  a  peat  moss  is  a  coal  bed  in  its  infancy. 
There  is  one  peat  moss  near  Stirling,  which  can  be  proved 
to  be  two  thousand  years  since  it  was  a  forest,  from  certain 
Koman  remains  found  in  it.   It  is  in  the  process  of  becoming 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  35 

carbonized,  and  would  probably  take  ten  thousand  years 
more  to  be  turned  into  coal.  We,  therefore,  argue  that 
these  coal  formations  prove,  incontestably,  additional  to  all 
I  have  said,  that  the  globe  of  which  they  form  a  part,  has 
been  filling  up,  and  shaping  itself,  under  the  presidency  of 
Him  who  made  and  governs  it,  for  hundreds  and  thousands, 
aye,  tens  of  thousands  of  years ! 

Another  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  the  earth  may  be 
taken  from  the  chalk  cliffs.  All,  or  many  of  us,  have 
visited  Ramsgate,  Margate,  and  Dover.  What  do  you 
think  those  chalk  cliffs  are  ?  Just  vast  masses  of  dead  sea- 
insects  and  shells,  turned  into  that  alkaline  powder,  which 
we  term  chalk.  The  microscope  of  the  philosopher  has 
been  turned  upon  it,  and  it  is  now  matter  of  demonstration. 
It  is  absurd  to  say,  that  these  vast  masses  were  thus  created. 
I  was  lately  at  Ramsgate,  and  spent  a  few  hours  minutely 
examining  these  .cliffs.  You  see  a  long  line  of  flints,  then  a 
mass  of  white  chalk,  then  flints  again,  then  an  immense 
mass  of  white  chalk.  Just  think  that  these  gigantic  banks 
of  chalk  were  all  living,  swarming  creatures,  that  must 
have  been  deposited  from  water,  and  that  you  have  them 
now  in  their  petrified  state !  The  only  thing  that  has  puz- 
zled geologists  are  the  layers  of  flint-stones.  They  cannot 
explain  how  it  comes  to  pass,  that  in  every  chalk  cliff  we 
see  successive  parallel  and  horizontal  lines  of  flint-stones, 
three  or  four  feet  from  one  another.  How  these  nodules 
of  flint  came  into  that  position,  geologists  have  been  unable 
to  determine,  and  no  conclusion  has  been  arrived  at,  to  give 
satisfaction  to  those  who  are  competent  to  investigate  that 
question.* 

Again,  some  of  these  formations,  while  in  the  fixed  order 

*  It  has  been  conjectured  lately,  what  perhaps  we  shall  be  able  to  prove, 
that  these  flints  were  originally  sponges,  and  if  so,  ippftlSSfg^lfliett  the 
evidence  we  are  collecting.  >^^<    c>-'-  -       -  .    •^- 


UirrVEESITTi 


36  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

of  superposition  I   have   mentioned,   (as  the  gneiss  lying 
above  the  granite,  and   the  fossiliferous  strata  above  it,) 
sometimes  dip  —  that  is  to  say,  you  find  that  the  stratum 
does  not  lie  always  perfectly  horizontal,  but  dips  down,  and 
sometimes  you  find  an  immense  mass,  by  some  great  con- 
vulsion, thrown  up  as  if  it  had  shot  up,  and  standing  almost 
perpendicular.     Now  when  you  find  a  large  mass  of  granite 
thus  driven  up,  and  when  you  perceive  afterwards  that  the 
next  stratum,   evidently,  was  gradually  deposited   by  the 
water  upon  it,  till  it  has  become  entirely  covered,  you  infer 
it  must  have  taken  an  immense  cycle  of  years  to  deposit  so 
much  sand,  dust,  or  mud  around  it,  while  the  whole  gradu- 
ally solidifies,  so   as   ultin5ately  to   cover   this   mass,  and 
become  solid  rock.     Suppose  one  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt 
were  in  this  situation,  and  the  clouds  were  to  shower  down 
sand,  you  can  conceive  what  a  long  time  it  would  take  till 
the  whole  pyramid  was  covered  by  it,  and^  how  much  more 
to  enable  wet  and  heat  to  harden  it.     We  find  that  very 
process  to  have  taken  place  in  cases  of  the  under  strata 
being  driven  upw^ards,  and  the  upper  strata  lying  horizon- 
tally deposited  on  them,  thus   indicating  the   vast  periods 
which  must  have  elapsed  till  the  latter  strata  were  complete 
and  hard.     In  other  words,  to  close  this  part  of  my  subject 
by  the  interesting  remarks  of  Professor  Sedgwick,  "  Every 
thing  indicates  a  very  long  and  a  very  slow  progression,  one 
creation  flourishing  and  performing  its  part,  and  gradually 
dying  off  as  it  has  so  performed   it,  and   another  actual 
creation  of  new  beings,  not  derived  as  progeny  from  the 
former,  gradually  taking  its  place  —  again  this  new  creation 
succeeded  by  a  third;  nothing  -per  saltiun;  all  according  to 
law ;  all  bearing  the  impress  of  mind,  of  a  great  dominant 
will,  at  the  bidding  of  which  all  parts  have  their  peculiar 
movement,  their  periods  of  revolution,  their  rise  and  fall." 
On  many  of  these  strata,  I  may  observe,  are  found  rounded 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  37 

fragments,  rounded   by  ceaseless  attrition,  and  fragments 
invariably  from  the  rock  below. 

Having  thus  noticed  these  strata,  from  the  granite  up* 
through  the  fossiliferous  strata,  to  what  is  called  the  allu- 
vium, I  observe,  that  it  is  in  this  alluvium,  or  upper  mud, 
that  lies  upon  the  surface  of  the  earth,  that  we  find  the 
remains  of  man.  But  how  interesting  is  this  fact!  no 
remains  of  man,  or  the  dynasty  of  man,  or  of  the  tools,  the 
possessions,  or  the  occupations  of  man,  are  to  be  found 
in  the  strata  to  which  I  have  turned  your  attention  hitherto. 
They  are  confined  wholly  and  entirely  to  the  upper  alluvial 
strata,  only  comparatively  a  very  few  feet  in  depth ;  proving, 
in  the  most  incontestable  manner,  this  one  fact,  as  it  is 
asserted  in  Genesis,  that  while  whole  races  of  living  crea- 
tures existed  and  were  extinguished  prior  to  man,  man  is 
of  recent  origin,  or  just  about  six  thousand  years  old  —  the 
very  age  assigned  in  Genesis,  —  Geology  thus  calling  from 
its  depths,  "  O  God,  thy  word  is  true  ! " 

To  touch  more  immediately  upon  the  statement  contained 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  we  read  there  these  remark- 
able words:  "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth."  Now,  in  looking  at  this,  just  notice  the 
fact,  that  all  that  this  first  verse  does,  is  simply  to  reveal 
the  fact  that  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  It 
does  not  describe  any  antecedent  dynasty,  or  any  past  or 
extinguished  race ;  because  the  Bible  was  written  not  to 
teach  geology,  for  we  can  discover  its  phenomena  by  science ; 
it  was  written  to  teach  us  all  that  relates  to  ourselves,  all 
that  is  fitted  to  enlighten  us  in  the  way  that  leads  to  happi- 
ness and  to  heaven,  leaving  for  us,  and  for  after  ages,  to 
learn  more  than  the  greatest  philosophers  have  been  able 
to  discover  in  the  ages  that  are  past.  The  first  verse  of 
Genesis,  in  other  words,  has  no  reference  to  the  chronology 
of  creation,  but  simply  to  the  fact  of  creation.  All  that 
4 


38  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

the  first  verse  asserts  is,  that  God  made  the  heavens  and 
the  earth.  It  does  not  say,  that  he  made  it  six  thousand 
years  ago,  or  ten  thousand,  or  twenty  thousand.  It  asserts 
the  creatorship  of  God,  and  the  creatureship  of  what  we 
see,  and  nothing  before.  Then  it  proceeds  to  give  the  his- 
tory that  succeeds.  The  word  which  is  translated  "  created," 
is  very  remarkable ;  it  is  the  word  bara.  I  know  it  is  open 
to  controversy  and  discussion,  but  you  will  find  this  to  be 
almost  invariably  the  case,  that  bara  is  employed  where  it 
is.i^lied  that  God  created  something  out  of  nothing,  and 
that  aasah,  another  Hebrew  \vord,  is  employed  when  he 
uses  the  instrumentality  of  others  in  producing  any  thing. 
For  instance,  "  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens 
and  the  earth ; "  that  is  Bereshith  bara  Elohim,  etc. 

But  in  that  passage,  "  God  made  Joseph  father,"  etc.,  it 
is  aasah,  and  in  the  passage,  "  God  made  Jordan  a  border," 
it  is  aasah.  The  idea  of  constitute  belongs  to  one  verb, 
the  idea  of  original  creation  is  implied  and  involved  in  the 
other.  And,  very  remarkably,  both  w^ords  are  used  in  refer- 
ence to  man.  It  is  said  of  him,  God  created  (bara)  man, 
and  it  is  said  also  of  him,  God  made  (aasah)  man.  Why 
is  this  ?  First,  man  was  a  new  creation,  and  therefore  bara 
is  the  proper  word  to  describe  him ;  and  whilst  he  was  a 
new  creation  he  was  created  out  of  the  dust,  and  therefore 
aasah  became  also  an  appropriate  word. 

But  let  us  look  at  the  passage  itself,  and  it  is,  "  In  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth."  I  have 
said  this  is  the  fact  of  creation,  not  the  era  or  date  of  crea- 
tion. In  the  beginning,  means  eternity,  for  in  the  first 
chapter  of  John  it  is  said,  "  In  the  beginning  was  the  Word, 
and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the  Word  was  God." 
And  it  is  said,  "  The  earth  was  without  form  and  void,  and 
darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  the  Spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  waters."    Naw  most  Chris- 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  39 

tians  have  taken  the  poet's  commentary  on  that  passage, 
instead  of  accepting  it  in  its  plain  and  unequivocal  sense. 
They  have  supposed  that  the  earth  was  one  vast,  surging, 
heaving  chaos  —  that  God  first  of  all  created  a  chaos,  as 
the  initial  step,  and  then  he  made  that  chaos  assume  the 
beautiful  shape  of  hill  and  dale,  and  river,  and  sea,  and 
stream,  that  we  now  see  upon  it.  But  really  this  is  not  the 
meaning  of  the  passage,  for  at  the  second  verse  ycu  will 
find  that  the  earth  existed,  that  the  sea  existed,  and  that 
day  and  night  existed.  The  language  of  it  is,  that  "  the 
earth  was  without  form  and  void,  and  darkness,"  that  is, 
night,  or  the  absence  of  light,  "  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
deep,  and  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  waters,  and  he 
said,  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light.  And  he  called 
the  light  day,  and  the  darkness  he  called  night."  Now 
how  are  day  and  night  produced  ?  Day  is  produced  by  one 
hemisphere  being  exposed  to  the  sun,  and  night  by  the  other 
half  not  being  exposed  to  the  sun ;  and  therefore  the  earth 
must  have  been  revolving  on  its  axis  at  the  very  time  that 
poets  described  it  in  a  state  of  chaotic  confusion.  But  you 
say,  "  The  words  are,  '  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void.' 
Does  not  that  prove  that  chaos  is  the  proper  name  for  it  ?  " 
I  answer.  No ;  for  the  very  same  language  is  applied  by 
Jeremiah  in  reference  to  circumstances  which  took  place 
long  after,  where  he  says,  "I  beheld  the  earth,  and  lo,'it 
was  without  form  and  void ;  and  the  heavens,  and  they  had 
no  light.  I  beheld  the  mountains,  that  they  trembled,  and 
all  the  hills  moved  lightly.  I  beheld,  and  lo,  there  was  no 
man,  and  all  the  birds  of  the  heavens  were  fled.  I  beheld, 
and  lo,  the  fruitful  place  was  a  wilderness,  and  all  the  cities 
thereof  were  broken  down  at  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and 
by  his  fierce  anger."  Now  here  the  Hebrew  words,  Thohu 
and  Vohic,  translated  by  us,  "  without  form  and  void,"  are 
applied  to  a  state  superinduced  by  man ;  and  therefore  you 


4:0  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

may  translate  tliis  second  verse  thus,  "  And  the  earth  was 
emptiness  and  desolation."  Then  it  is  said,  "  The  Spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the  water ; "  and  that  expres- 
sion, "  moved,"  indicates  a  process,  and  it  is  very  significant. 
It  is  said  elsewhere,  that  the  Spirit  descended  upon  Jesus 
like  a  dove.  This  text  alludes  to  the  third  person  in  the 
adorable  Trinity.  The  phrase  is  that  which  is  predicated 
of  a  dove,  and  might  be  translated  fairly,  without  deviating 
from  the  text,  "  And  the  Spirit  kept  fluttering,  after  the 
manner  of  a  dove,  upon  the  face  of  the  water."  You  have, 
then,  in  this  passage,  the  earth  revolving  upon  its  axis ;  you 
have  day  and  night  existing  in  it ;  and  then  you  have  the 
sentence  enunciated  by  God,  "  Let  there  be  light."  Now 
mark  the  difference.  When  he  created,  it  is  said,  Bara 
Eloliim;  but  when  it  speaks  of  light  introduced,  it  does  not 
say,  Bara,  "  and  he  created  a  light ; "  but  it  says,  Yeld  Owr, 
"  let  light  be  seen."  This  is  not  the  creation  of  light.  I 
believe  that  light  had  existed  thousands  of  years  before ; 
but  it  is,  "  let  the  light,  obscured  by  the  vapors  or  evapora- 
tions of  the  moisture  of  the  earth,  or  from  any  other  expli- 
cable and  reasonable  cause  —  let  that  light,  obscured  and 
hidden,  now  emerge  and  appear."  But  for  poets  to  sing  as 
if  God  had  created  light  at  this  moment,  is  to  stretch  poetic 
imagination  till  it  occupies  the  place  of  an  interpreter  of  the 
word  of  God,  and  so  ceases  to  be  of  use. 

Again,  God  said,  "  Let  there  be  a  firmament."  You  ask 
what  that  is.  The  word  here  employed  simply  means,  let 
there  be  expansion ;  let  there  be  a  space  dividing  the  water 
of  the  clouds  (for  a  cloud  is  simply  water  in  the  shape  of 
steam)  from  the  water  in  the  ocean  and  the  river,  and  thus 
the  land  would  instantly  come  under  drainage,  if  you  will 
allow  the  expression,  and  become  fit  for  herb  and  flower  and 
fruit,  by  the  waters  rushing  from  it,  and  forming  the  mighty 
ocean  —  "  let  it  bring  forth  herb,"  that  is,  let  it  be  fitted  for 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  41 

it,  "  for  man  and  for  beast."  Then  it  says,  "  God  made  two 
great  lights."  Now  here  the  word  is  not  Oicr^  which  I  told 
you  signifies  light ;  nor  is  hara  used,  which  means  create,  but 
aasah,  to  constitute ;  he  constituted  two  great  lights :  the 
word  is  not  light,  the  Hebrew  word  for  which  is  Owr ;  but 
maowroth  is  the  Hebrew  used  for  the  sun  and  moon ;  and 
literally  translated  it  is,  "  He  constituted  the  sun  and  moon 
two  torch-carriers,  or  light-bearers,  to  the  earth  and  the 
human  family."  God  no  more  made  the  sun  and  moon 
then,  in  the  sense  of  creating  them,  than  he  created  the 
rainbow  when  he  appointed  it  as  the  symbol  and  sign  to 
Noah  that  another  deluge  should  never  occur.  It  seems  to 
me  plainly  evident,  that  the  record  of  Genesis,  when  read 
fairly,  and  not  in  the  light  of  our  prejudices,  —  and,  mind 
you,  the  essence  of  Popery  is  to  read  the  Bible  in  the  light 
of  our  opinions,  instead  of  viewing  our  opinions  in  the  light 
of  the  Bible,  in  its  plain  and  obvious  sense,  —  falls  in  per- 
fectly with  the  assertions  of  geologists,  that  the  globe  may 
be  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years  of  age.  All  that  is 
asserted,  is  God's*  primal  creation  and  his  subsequent  ar- 
rangement of  its  surface,  or  his  furnishing  of  the  house  for 
the  habitation  and  comfort  of  man,  leaving  all  that  existed 
long  prior  to  that  to  be  discovered  by  the  labors  of  science, 
his  word  only  undertaking  and  professing  to  teach  things 
that  belong  to  our  everlasting  peace. 

But  there  is  one  subject  which  I  confess  is  a  difficult  one, 
and  it  is  the  only  difficult  one.  Some  geologists,  I  know, 
may  smile  at  my  proposed  solution,  and  some  of  my  hearers 
may  be  dissatisfied,  but  I  cannot  help  it ;  I  only  state  my 
own  belief,  the  result  of  my  own  reading.  The  difficulty  is 
this :  Geology  proves  that  death  existed  in  our  globe  long 
prior  to  six  thousand  years  ago.  I  say  the  evidence  to  my 
mind,  from  reading  —  from  careful  and  dispassionate  read- 
ing upon  this  very  point  —  conveys  an  irresistible  impres- 
4.* 


42  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

sion  that  death  existed  in  our  globe  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  years  ago,  very  long  before  the  present  surface,  configura- 
tion, and  arrangement  of  the  earth  on  which  we  now  live. 
Now,  the  question  is,  how  to  reconcile  this  with  what  seems 
to  be  plainly  asserted  in  the  word  of  God,  that  death  is  the 
result  of  sin,  that  man  sinned,  and  therefore  death  has 
passed  upon  all.  I  assert  this,  that,  explain  it  as  you  like, 
no  honest  man,  reading  the  New  Testament,  or  the  Old 
Testament,  can  avoid  concluding,  that  if  there  had  been  no 
sin,  there  never  could  have  been  any  death.  How  then  do 
we  explain  the  fact  that  death  did  exist  in  the  lower  races 
prior  to  the  creation  of  man  ?  For  instance,  in  addition  to 
millions  of  dead  creatures,  we  find  one  of  these  Saurian 
monsters  excavated  from  the  depths  of  the  earth  with  a 
smaller  animal  in  its  jaws,  having  crushed  it  just  as  it  had 
seized  its  prey.  We  find  others,  with  the  remains  of 
smaller  creatures  in  their  stomachs,  eaten,  but  not  fully 
digested  when  death  seized  upon  them.  We  find,  too,  re- 
mains of  animals  furnished  with  what  are  called  carnivorous 
teeth.  The  ox's  teeth  are  called  graminivorous,  because 
fitted  for  the  mastication  of  grain  or  grass ;  the  teeth  of 
lions,  of  cats,  and  of  dogs,  are  called  carnivorous,  because 
made  to  feed  upon  flesh,  to  tear  and  devour.  .  Now  we  find, 
I  say,  in  these  ancient  remains,  clear  proofs  of  carnivorous 
races  that  lived  upon  flesh,  and  must  have  fed  upon  other 
animals.  Anybody  who  will  read  carefully  what  has  been 
stated,  and  the  facts  that  prove  it,  must  come  to  the  same 
conclusion.  Several  theories  have  been  invented  to  explain 
this.  A  distinguished  minister  —  distinguished  for  his  piety 
as  well  as  for  his  scientific  attainments  —  has  alleged  that 
man  was  originally  desi^ied  or  made  capable  of  dying,  and 
meant  to  die,  and  Avould  have  died,  but  that  his  death  would 
be  contingent  upon  his  eating,  or  non-eating  of  the  forbidden 
tree ;  that  is,  so  constituted  that  he  dies  if  he  eats  of  that 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  43 

fruit,  hui  if  he  had  not  eaten  of  it,  though  still  mortal,  the 
sentence  would  have  been  suspended,  and  he  would  not 
have  died.  Another  theory  is  that  of  Jeremy  Taylor  — 
that  man  and  all  animat-e  creatures  were  meant  to  die, 
whether  man  had  sinned  or  not,  and  that  in  case  of  his 
never  having  fallen,  death  would  have  been  a  beautiful 
transference,  like  the  twilight,  or,  as  they  call  it  in  the 
north  of  Scotland,  gloaming ;  where  the  twilight  of  evening 
blends  almost  imperceptibly  with  the  twilight  of  the  next 
morning  —  that  man  would  have  been  gradually  translated 
without  the  pang,  the  agony,  and  the  shame  of  dying.  But 
the  third  idea,  which  I  really  think  is  the  right  one,  is  that 
man  was  not  meant  constitutionally  to  die ;  that  wherever 
death  is,  there  is  the  projected  shadow  of  that  great  sin  that 
crept  into  the  world,  and  dragged  down  on  us  with  it  all 
our  misery  and  all  our  woe.  And  I  believe,  at  the  same 
time,  that  the  animals  created  after  Adam,  and  constituting 
what  geologists  call  our  dynasty,  were  not  originally  designed 
to  die,  and  that  their  carnivorous  structure  was  an  anticipa- 
tory arrangement,  and  that  in  every  case  sin  and  death  are 
inseparably  connected.  That  the  lower  animals  are  involved 
in  man's  sin,  is  plain  in  many  instances  of  the  Bible.  At 
the  flood,  for  instance,  the  animals  were  all  punished  and 
destroyed  because  man  had  sinned.  We  have  repeated 
instances  in  the  Bible,  of  the  lower  races  suffering  because 
of  man's  transgressions.  I  believe  that  is  but  the  continu- 
ance of  a  law  which  began  with  man's  fall,  and  that  in  con- 
sequence of  man's  fall  it  is  literally  true,  as  the  Apostle 
asserts,  that  the  whole  creation  groans  and  travails,  waiting" 
to  be  delivered,  and  that  a  day  of  emancipation  will  come. 
I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that  the  brute  creation  are 
not  in  their  normal  state ;  that  the  poor  horse,  overworked 
in  the  omnibus,  is  not  where  he  w^as  meant  to  be ;  that  the# 
poor  bird,  devoured  by  the  hawk,  is  exposed  to  a  contin- 


44  THE  CHURCH  before  the  flood. 

gency  superinduced  by  sin.  1  believe,  no  less  surely,  tbat 
when  the  lord  of  creation  fell,  the  whole  of  his  dynasty  fell 
with  him ;  and  that  when  creation's  lord  shall  receive  the 
reins  of  creation  again  into  his  hands,  his  whole  dynasty 
will  be  elevated  and  redeemed  with  him. 

Still  we  fall  back  upon  the  question,  "  Plow  happens  it 
that  death  was  before  man  fell  ?  "  My  humble  solution  is 
this :  First,  Geology  does  not  show  death  to  have  occurred 
prior  to  the  creation  of  man  in  the  case  of  a  single  animal 
constituting  the  creation  of  the  first  six  days'  of  the  week ; 
secondly.  Geology  does  not  adduce  one  instance  of  the 
remains  of  man  amidst  the  fossiliferous  remains  of  previ- 
ously existing  races ;  thirdly,  the  amount  of  its  disclosure 
is  this,  then,  that  death  takes  place  amongst  the  peculiar 
race  of  animals  that  existed  prior  to  the  creation  of  man. 
But  as  the  Bible  asserts  that  death  is  the  result  of  sin,  we 
are  thrown  back  upon  this  question,  "  Is  there  any  record 
of  any  sin  having  occurred  prior  to  man's  creation  ?  "  We 
find  God  speaking  to  Adam  of  sin,  as  if  Adam  knew  what 
sin  was,  and  also  of  death,  as  if  he  had  some  idea  of  what 
death  meant ;  and  we  find  that  the  great  representative  and 
agent  of  sin,  called  "  that  old  serpent,"  Satan,  walked  the 
world,  had  access  to  its  fairest  spots,  and  tempted  man ; 
and  we  read  in  the  Epistle  of  Jude  of  "the  angels  who 
kept  not  their  first  estate : "  now,  I  do  not  assert  that  the 
angels'  sin  was  the  cause  of  the  death  that  existed  prior  to 
Adam's  creation,  but  I  do  assert  that  we  have  the  fact  that 
sin  occurred  prior  to  man's  creation ;  and  it  does  not  seem 
unreasonable,  or  contrary  to  analogy,  to  say,  that  the  dis- 
organization of  all  animal  being,  prior  to  Adam's  creation, 
may  be  the  rebound  and  the  result  of  the  sin  of  those 
angels  who  kept  not  their  first  estate,  and  rebelled  against 
♦  God,  whose  residence  may  have  been  this  very  earth,  prior 
to  its  fitting  up  for  the  dynasty  of  man. 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  45 

I  have  thus,  briefly,  looked  at  that  difficulty,  the  existence 
of  death  prior  to  the  creation  of  man.  I  will  now  draw 
such  instructions  as  it  seems  to  me  the  investigations  we 
have  been  pursuing  fairly  teach. 

First,  then,  it  appears,  that  all  the  discoveries  of  recent 
science,  instead  of  contradicting  the  plain  assertions  of 
Scripture,  either  leave  them  untouched  in  their  own  inspired 
supremacy,  or  cast  an  indirect,  but  illustrative,  light  upon 
them.  Secondly,  we  have  the  most  irresistible  proof  of 
what  is  called  the  non-eternity  of  the  globe.  You  will 
recollect,  that  when  one  of  the  great  Christian  naturalists 
affirmed  that  there  were  all  the  traces  of  design  in  our 
globe,  and  therefore  the  proofs  of  a  Creator,  infidels  replied, 
"  It  has  ever  been  so."  By  this  they  asserted  the  eternity 
of  the  globe,  and  therefore  got  rid,  by  one  extravagant 
assertion,  of  a  clear  and  impressive  evidence  of  a  designing, 
wise,  and  glorious  Being.  But  now  Geology  has  positively 
discovered  whole  races  of  animals  were  at  once  extin- 
guished, and  forthwith  there  started  a  new  race,  totally 
unconnected  with  the  previous ;  then  that  new  race  was 
extinguished,  and  succeeded  by  another  new  race.  In  other 
words,  we  can  just  prove,  as  plainly  as  if  we  saw  God 
making  worlds,  that  God  has  interposed  in  the  history  of 
this  globe  some  twenty  times,  and  created  at  once,  by  a  fiat 
of  omnipotent  power,  successive  races  of  dynasties  of  living 
beings.  We  have,  therefore,  in  that  fact,  irresistible  proof 
that  the  globe  is  not  eternal,  but,  on  the  contrary,  the  scene 
of  successive  creations,  and  that  God  has  interposed  again 
and  again  with  acts  of  creative  power. 

We  receive  from  Geology  the  most  powerful  evidence  of 
the  existence  of  God.  I  have  shown  that  there  are  proofs 
of  creative  power  interposing  and  starting  new  races ;  and 
such  creative  acts  are,  of  course,  irresistible  proofs  of  a 
Creator,  ^^ho  originated  and  produced  them;   nothing,  to 


46  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

ray  mind,  is  more  absurd  or  extravagant  than  the  notion  of 
that  man  who  has  the  moral  hardihood  of  heart,  and  the 
obscuration  of  intellect  and  common  sense,  to  stand  up  and 
assert  the  monstrous  paradox,  the  unscientific  dogma,  that 
there  is  no  God  and  Governor  of  heaven  and  earth.  I  was 
amazed  the  other  day,  when  an  individual  wrote  to  me,  to 
find  the  very  first  announcement  of  his  letter  to  be,  "  I  am 
an  atheist."  That  was  to  me  a  perfect  key  to  all  the  con- 
tents of  the  document.  Pie  not  only  said  that  he  was  an 
atheist,  but  he  gave  me  the  advantages  of  his  reasons  for 
being  so.  I  read  them,  and  I  wrote  back  that  I  had  gener- 
ally found  Atheism  to  be  a  fog,  that  originates  in  the  heart 
a  conviction  for  the  mind,  determining  to  get  rid  of  the  idea 
of  God,  because  the  deeds  of  the  life  are  evil ;  but  I  wrote 
that  I  could  compliment  my  correspondent  on  the  perfect 
absence  of  this,  as,  judging  from  his  reasons,  it  was  weak- 
ness of  intellect  on  his  part,  and  not  badness  of  heart,  that 
made  him  come  to  such  conclusions. 

Another  interesting  lesson  is  taught  us  by  Geology — ■ 
that  God  has  taken  an  interest  in  this  globe,  the  most  con- 
tinuous, the  most  parental.  The  infidel's  objective  query 
has  often  been,  that  as  God  has  thousands  of  orbs  of  the 
richest  splendor,  of  which  he  is  the  Author,  and  on  the 
riches  of  which  he  sits  enthroned,  how  can  God  give  such 
attention  to  this  minute  speck,  which  he  could  expunge  from 
the  orbs  of  the  universe,  and  which  would  be  no  more 
missed  than  would  a  grain  of  sand  from  the  sea-shore,  as  to 
send  the  Son  of  God  to  die  for  it?  This  argument  has 
been  well  answered  by  the  late  Dr.  Chalmers  and  others. 
There  are  a  hundred  globes  or  orbs,  and  there  is  one  truant 
orb ;  God  will  leave  the  ninety-nine  orbs  that  need  no  resto- 
ration, and  will  come  on  the  wings  of  love  to  restore  this 
prodigal  orb ;  just  as  the  mother  who  has  one  child  a  prodi- 
gal, and  seven  at  home,  happy,  good,  and  obedient,  when 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  47 

she  hears  the  wind  blow  and  the  storms  beat,  will  think  far 
more,  and  far  more  deeply,  of  the  prodigal  upon  the  open 
ocean,  than  of  her  seven  at  her  fireside,  under  the  shelter 
of  her  roof  at  home.  And  if  there  were  no  analogy  at  all, 
Geology  proves  in  the  history  of  the  globe,  that  God  has 
interposed  in  this  globe  so  often  in  the  sovereign  exercise 
of  creative  acts ;  and  the  Bible  records  that  he  has  crowned 
his  interposition  with  the  most  glorious  of  them  all,  re- 
demption through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

The  discoveries  of  Geology  extinguish  for  ever  the  the- 
ory advocated  in  a  well  known  book,  called  the  "  Vestiges 
of  Creation."  It  is  most  remarkable  how  the  writer  of  this 
book  has  been  overwhelmed.  The  author  of  the  "  Vestiges 
of  Creation  "  alleges  that  certain  nebulas  in  the  sky  consist 
of  a  certain  fire-mist,  which  has  been  gradually  spinning 
itself  into  orbs,  which  gradually  become  logger  and  bigger. 
Lord  Rosse  turned  his  telescope  to  these  nebulse,  and  found 
them  to  consist  of  clusters  of  orbs  fully  formed.  Then 
again,  the  idea  of  the  author  of  the  "  Vestiges "  is,  that 
man  is  the  development  of  a  monkey,  that  the  monkey  is 
the  embryo  man,  so  that  if  you  keep  a  baboon  long  enough 
it  will  develop  itself  into  a  man.  Hugh  Miller  states  what 
geologists  have  discovered,  that  each  successive  dynasty  (I 
use  the  technical  geological  phrase)  was  created  at  its  max- 
imum of  perfection,  and  that  degradation,  not  elevation,  has 
been  the  law  of  existence.  We  find  no  instances  of  trans- 
formation of  races  in  Geology.  How  can  you  suppose,  I 
ask,  that  an  ourang-outang  can  ever  develop  itself  into  a 
man?  The  ankle  of  the  ourang-outang,  for  instance,  is 
rotatory ;  man's  ankle  is  a  simple  joint  that  moves  forward 
and  backward,  and  is  meant  for  walking.  Man's  foot  is  a 
beautiful  arch,  and  he  is  meant  to  support  himself  by  it 
erect ;  but  the  ourang-outang  has  a  prehensile  foot,  that  is, 
long  fingers  meant  for  clasping  boughs  of  trees,  and  leaping 


48  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

* 

from  branch  to  branch  —  the  evidence  of  a  brute,  not  the 
basis  of  the  development  of  a  man.  But  suppose  that  the 
ourang-outang's  hairy  hand  were  to  develop  itself  into  the 
beautiful  hand  of  a  ladj,  and  its  prehensile  foot  were  ulti- 
mately to  become  the  handsome  arched  foot,  and  its  head  to 
change  into  the  fine  countenance  of  man ;  which  part  of 
the  ourang-outang  would  develop  itself  into  the  grand 
imagination  of  Shakspeare,  the  great  intellect  of  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  the  mighty  genius  of  a  Bacon  ?  Where  are  the 
elements  of  such  a  development  as  this?  Echo  must 
answer  only,  "  Where  ?  "  But  Geology  discovers  no  half 
monkey,  half  man,  half  one  race,  and  half  another,  in  any 
of  the  earth's  archiyes,  but  distinctly  defined  and  indepen- 
dent and  distinct  races. 

We  have  in  the  disclosures  of  Geology  the  most  trium- 
phant evidence  §f  the  possibility  of  a  miracle.  Hume,  the 
celebrated  atheistic  philosopher,  says  that  a  miracle  is  im- 
possible, and  on  this  account,  that  we  have  no  evidence  of  a 
miracle.  Dr.  Newman  says,  on  the  contrary,  that  his 
church  is  so  full  of  miracles  that  it  is  like  an  electric  jar, 
charged,  and  only  needing  to  be  exposed  to  the  outward 
world  to  explode  with  all  sorts  of  brilliant  prodigies.  We 
take  the  moderate  course,  and  we  say,  miracles  have  been 
when  there  was  a  necessity  for  them ;  and  we  say,  the  pos- 
sibility of  miracles  is  proved  by  the  fact  revealed  on  the 
stony  page  in  the  excavations  of  the  gl^be,  that  God  has 
stepped  in  again  and  again,  and  created  races,  and  left  evi- 
dences of  that  creation  which  are  unmistakable  upon  the 
surface  and  contents  of  the  globe. 

In  the  next  place,  we  have  in  Geology  the  refutation  of 
the  theory  asserted  by  men  in  St.  Peter's  days,  and  asserted 
by  men  in  our  day,  that  "  all  things  continue  as  they  were 
since  the  beginning."  Thef  do  not  continue  as  they  were ; 
they  have  changed ;    God  has  changed   them   again  and 


GENESIS    AND    GEOLOGY.  49 

again,  and  they  will  be  changed  one  day,  when  what  now  is 
shall  undergo  its  last  baptism,  and  the  earth  shall  emerge 
all  beautiful,  and  end,  as  it  began,  with  paradise. 

And,  in  the  next  place,  every  discovery  we  have  in  Geol- 
ogy refutes  the  idea  that  life  can  in  any  shape,  by  any 
chemicar  combination  of  material  elements,  be  originated. 
It  shows  that  life  is  the  gift  of  God,  and  that  nothing  else 
but  God's  power  begat  it. 

I  notice  also,  that  all  the  discoveries  of  Geology  show, 
amid  traces  of  judgment,  evidences  of  death,  and  intima- 
tions of  sin  —  that  every  step  in  the  formation  of  the  globe 
has,  more  or  less,  been  beneficent  and  benevolent  to  man. 
For  instance,  the  coal  that  took  thousands  of  years  to 
form  —  the  lime,  which  is  composed  of  dead  sea-shells  and 
insects  —  the  ores  of  iron  —  the  gold  and  the  silver  thrown 
out  in  veins  and  interstices  in  the  roclft  —  these  are  all 
found  to  be  necessary  to  man.  If  you  had  no  lime,  you 
would  have  no  flux  for  melting  the  metal ;  if  you  had  no 
coal,  you  could  have  no  fire  to  melt  the  metal ;  and  if  you 
had  no  metal,  you  w^ould  not  require  lime  and  coal ;  and  yet 
all  three  are  generally  contiguous. 

Lastly,  Geology  tells  us  very  plainly,  that  all  the  ele- 
ments of  that  great  catastrophe  predicted  by  Peter  in  the 
third  chapter  of  his  Second  Epistle,  are  at  this  moment 
ready.  It  is  well  ascertained,  that  Fahrenheit's  thermome- 
ter rises  one  degree  every  forty-five  feet  we  penetrate  into 
the  earth,  and  that  if  you  were  to  descend  sixty  miles,  the 
heat  at  that  depth  would  be  so  intense  that  it  would  melt 
the  hardest  flints  and  the  most  solid  rock;  and  that  this 
globe  is  therefore  a  cooled  crust,  composed  of  the  granite 
and  the  fossiliferous  strata,  and  that  underneath  at  the  heart 
is  one  molten  and  surging  sea  of  fire  ;  that  the  volcanoes  are 
the  safety-valves  which  prevent  the  earth's  crust  being  riven 
into  atoms,  and  all  humanity  perishing.  A  day  will  come 
5 


50  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

when  God  will  remove  the  restrictions,  when  the  elements 
shall  "  melt  with  fervent  heat."  Oh !  may  we,  seeing  all 
these  things  must  be  dissolved,  be  found  in  the  happy  com- 
pany, and  amid  the  blessed  group,  of  them  who,  through 
Christ  Jesus,  are  looking  for  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth, 
wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.* 

*  In  making  these  remarks  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  Hitchcock's  work 
on  "Keligion  and  Geology;"  to  Hugh  Miller's  able  work,  "Foot  prints 
of  the  Creator;"  to  Dr.  King's  interesting  " Manual ;" -Dr.  Anderson's 
"Courses  of  Creation;"  and  to  a  valuable  work  on  the  "Earth's  Anti- 
quity," by  the  Rev.  J.  Gray,  rector  of  Dibden. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CREATION. 

"  My  heart  is  awed  within  me,  when  I  think 
Of  the  great  miracle  that  still  goes  on 
In  silence  round  me  —  the  perpetual  work 
Of  thy  creation  finished,  yet  renewed 
For  ever." 

''In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heayen  and  the  earth."  —  Gen.  i.  1. 

The  Bible  begins  its  marvellous  record  with  Genesis,  or 
the  account  of  the  creation  of  all,  and  it  closes  with  Revela- 
tion, or  the  regenesis,  that  is,  the  announcement  of  the 
regeneration  of  all  things.  It  begins  with  God,  and  it  ends 
with  God.  All  came  from  him,  and  to  him  is  given  in  the 
Bible  the  glory  of  all. 

The  first  verse  of  Genesis  assumes  the  existence  of  God. 
This  is  a  fact  which  the  sacred  penmen  rarely  attempt  to 
prove.  They  assume  it  as  almost  a  self-evident  truth,  an 
original  and  inherent  part  of  the  furniture  of  the  human 
mind  —  an  intuition  more  than  an  inference.  A  voice  ever 
rises  from  within,  and  mingles  with  ten  thousand  without, 
declaring  there  is  a  God.  His  existence  and  rule  are 
assumed  as  the  basis  of  all  —  the  great  secret  and  solution 
of  all.  Exclude  Deity  from  the  universe  in  our  reasonings, 
and  calculations,  and  thoughts,  and  hopes,  and  trusts,  and 
fears,  and  joys,  and  nature  falls  back  to  chaos,  the  human 
heart  into  despair,  and  all  things  become  confusion  worse 
confounded. 


52  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Nature  reverberates  in  all  her  chambers,  in  her  heights 
and  depths,  in  all  she  was,  in  all  she  is,  and  still  more  from 
what  she  will  be  —  God.  We  may  rise  from  nature  to  the 
apprehension  of  nature's  God ;  but,  however  pleasing,  this 
is  only  a  discovery.  The  Bible  tells  us  that  God  is,  and 
this  is  a  revelation.  A  discovery,  we  have  seen,  is  some- 
thing that  man  makes,  and  for  w^iich  he  is  prone  to  take  a 
tithe  of  glory  and  honor  to  himself,  and  which  is  therefore 
ever  dangerous.  But  a  revelation  is  something  that  Gt)d 
gives,  in  which  man  knows  that  he  has  no  share,  and  from 
which  he  can  extort  no  glory;  Creation  is  full  of  Deity, 
and  revelation  resonant  with  his  accents.  The  natural  phi- 
losopher rises  from  what  he  finds  in  creation,  until  he 
reaches  the  staple  fixed  to  the  throne  of  God,  from  which 
the  whole  chain  of  being  hangs.  A  Christian  starts  with 
God,  who  is  announced  to  him  in  his  Bible,  and  comes  down 
to  see  what  creation  is,  from  what  he  has  found  God  to  be. 
Hence,  the  mere  natural  philosopher  argues  what  God  is, 
from  the  jarring  and  broken  state  in  which  he  finds  crea- 
tion ;  but  a  Christian  argues  what  creation  is,  was,  and  will 
be,  from  what  he  has  first  discovered  God  in  his  word  to  be. 
In  this  lies  the  superiority  of  the  Christian's  deductions,  that 
he  forms  his  conceptions  of  creation  from  a  previous  knowl- 
edge of  God,  and  can  explain  it  all ;  whereas  the  natural 
man  forms  his  conceptions  of  God  from  a  very  much  marred, 
a  broken,  and  a  disjointed  world,  and  therefore  often  errs. 
Hence,  the  mere  theist's  apprehension  of  God  is  not  a  per- 
fect one,  because  his  evidence  is  not  so ;  the  Christian's  idea 
of  the  world  is  the  only  true  one,  because  his  idea  of  God 
is  an  inspired  one. 

What  a  blessed  thought  now,  if  we  could  all  at  all  times 
realize  it,  that  we,  and  all  about  us,  are  the  creatures  of 
God !  When  we  have  no  sense  of  our  adoption  by  grace, 
we  may  fall  back  upon  the  fact  of  our  creation  by  power. 


CREATION.  53 

If  I  cannot  say,  owing  to  the  faltering  of  my  faith,  "  O 
Lord,  I  am  thy  adopted  son,"  I  may  yet  say,  because  it  is 
impossible  to  avoid  it,  "  O  Lord,  I  am  thy  creature."  There 
is  a  collect  in  the  English  Prayer  Book,  "0  Lord,  who 
hatest  nothing  that  thou  has  made."  I  think  that  is  very 
beautiful :  God  hates  nothing  that  he  has  made  ;  and  what- 
ever God  hates  is,  come  whence  it  may,  an  interpolation,  an 
intrusion,  which  vitiates  all  it  touches,  and  will  be  destroyed, 
but  which  he  did  not  make. 

If  God  made  us  all,  this  brings  before  us  the  dead  level 
on  which  all  humanity  is  laid.  We  all  occupy  one  common 
level,  as  the  workmanship  of  one  hand  —  the  offspring  of 
one  Parent.  Oar  birth  and  our  decay,  our  origin  and  our 
end,  our  immortality  and  our  tears,  our  sorrows  and  our 
joys,  should  all  lead  us  to  sympathize  \\4th  each  other,  but 
never  to  hate  and  persecute  each  other. 

When  we  read  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  and  think 
of  the  vastness  of  created  things  therein  recorded,  we  may 
form,  and  God  warrants  us  to  do  so,  not  as  a  substitute  for 
our  creed,  but  as  an  illustration  of  it,  some  idea  of  the 
greatness  of  Him  who  made  all.  When  God  created  the 
world  is  of  very  little  consequence ;  that  he  created  the 
world  is  the  precious  and  practical  fact  for  us.  When  I 
think  of  the  mountain  ranges  so  vast  in  height,  of  primaeval 
forests  so  extensive ;  of  the  ocean  lifting  up  its  unsleeping 
eye ;  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  ever  looking  down, 
and  recollect  that  there  are  stars  so  distant,  that,  though 
light  travels  from  the  sun  to  the  earth  in  four  minutes,  yet 
the  light  of  these  stars,  travelling  with  almost  inconceivable 
rapidity,  has  not  yet  reached  our  orb ;  when  I  think  that 
stars  the  most  distant  are  really  centres  of  systems,  and 
those  systems  each  with  its  central  sun  only  groups  around 
another  central  sun,  and  that  central  sun  with  these  groups, 
which  are  clusters  of  worlds,  only  small  groups  around  a 
5* 


54:  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

yet  inner  central  sun;  and  that  all  these,  and  more  than 
these  that  the  telescope  brings  before  us,  are  but  a  few  of 
the  outposts  of  that  starrj''  host  which  keeps  watch  on  the 
infinite  plains,  and  ministers  about  God's  throne  perpetu- 
ally; in  short,  that  all  that  the  best  telescope  is  able  to 
bring  within  the  horizon  are  but  some  of  the  scattered 
sentinels  of  those  magnificent  battalions  that  cover  the  fields 
of  immensity  ;  —  we  may  try  to  conceive,  but  adequately 
conceive  we  cannot,  the  magnificence  and  th,e  greatness 
of  Him  who  made  all,  and  sits  enthroned  upon  the  riches 
of  all,  from  whom  all  came,  and  to  whom  all  give  glory  and 
honor  and  praise.  But  I  have  spoken  of  catching  a  glimpse 
of  what  God  is  by  the  great  things  that  the  telescope  brings 
within  the  horizon  from  the  stupendous  heights  of  nature ; 
but  I  dare  venture  to  state,  that  we  have  even  a  grander 
idea  of  what  God  is  by  the  little  things  that  the  microscope 
brings  within  our  view  from  the  depths  of  the  earth  we  live 
on.  The  more  that  one  discovers  of  the  universe  about  us, 
the  more  one  is  perplexed  to  determine  whether  God  is 
seen  to  be  most  great  in  creating  fixed  stars,  in  controlling 
high  angels,  or  in  creating  those  minute  and  microscopic 
organisms  which  the  human  eye  cannot  see,  but  every  one 
of  which  millions  upon  millions,  invisible  and  intangible  by 
us,  has  a  perfect  organization  of  nerves  and  veins  and 
arteries.  Man's  mind  is  overwhelmed  by  the  magnificent 
things  which  the  telescope  brings  down  to  him ;  it  is  no  less 
struck  by  the  minute  things  which  the  microscope  brings  up 
to  him ;  one  feels  what  difficulty  there  must  be  in  being  an 
atheist,  what  credulity  there  must  be  in  that  man  who  can 
muster  moral  depravity  to  expose  his  intellectual  blindness, 
and  to  cry,  "  There  is  no  God."  I  think  there  is  nothing 
BO  plain,  so  palpable,  so  unmistakable  on  earth,  apart  from 
the  Bible,  as  that  there  is  a  God. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  outer  creation  as  a  mirror  of  Deity, 


CREATION.  55 

but  when  we  come  to  what  is  more  familiar  to  us,  ourselves, 
Y/hat  evidence  is  there  in  all  our  structure  of  God !  I  have 
heard  that  not  a  few  physicians  and  medical  men  are  scep- 
tically inclined.  I  wonder  at  it.  Of  course  the  human 
body  cannot  teach  us  that  Christ  died  for  sinners,  for  this 
precious  truth  we  must  go  to  God's  revealed  word ;  but  the 
human  body  does  teach  every  man  that  it  is  not  an  acci- 
dental thing  struck  off  from  some  other,  but  an  original 
creation  of  Deity,  instinct  with  beautiful  design,  and  eloquent 
with  instructive  lessons.  So  delicate  is  this  body  of  ours, 
that  one  feels  at  times  it  is  better  not  to  know  it  too  well, 
for  the  more  we  know  it,  the  more  we  shall  wonder  that  it 
holds  together  for  ten  minutes ;  and  yet  it  is  so  powerful, 
that  what  it  can  endure,  and  what  it  will  do,  and  what  it 
will  dare,  defies  almost  the  historian  to  record.  Yet,  noble 
as  this  body  is,  after  all  it  is  not  the  man ;  it  is  but  the 
movable  tent  which  he  carries  about  with  him.  It  is  a 
combination  of  levers,  and  pulleys,  and  hooks,  and  pumps, 
and  wheels,  and  windows,  and  speaking-trumpets,  and 
acoustic  tubes,  to  enable  the  man  within,  who  is  its  owner, 
to  communicate  with  this  outer  world.  But  if  this  body  be 
so  exquisitely  made,  so  wondrously  arranged,  it  must  be  a 
very  grand  inhabitant  for  which  such  machinery,  so  com- 
plicated, so  beautiful,  so  delicate,  and  yet  so  strong,  was 
prepared.  If  the  body  give  traces  and  evidence  of  wisdom, 
design,  omnipotence,  how  much  more  that  soul  which  dwells 
in  its  innermost  chambers,  for  which  that  body  was  made 
and  consecrated  of  old !  How  precious  the  jewel  for  which 
so  exquisite  a  casket  was  got  ready !  how  great  the  inner 
king  for  whom  so  royal  a  palace  was  built !  and  how  truly 
do  both  show  alike  the  wisdom  and  the  power  of  Him  who 
made  them,  and  knit  them  inseparably  together.  I  know 
nothing  greater  than  man's  soul,  but  God;  and  I  know 
no  creature  in  heaven,  upon  earth,  that  man  would  not 


56  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

degrade  himself  by  giving  religious  worship  to.  Man  never 
appears  more  ennobled  than  when  he  bows  the  knee  and 
gives  undivided  adoration  to  God.  What  man's  soul  has 
done  is  evidence  of  its  greatness,  but  the  fact  that  that  soul, 
so  great,  could  not  reinstate  itself  in  the  relationship  to  God 
which  it  had  lost,  is  evidence  what  a  terrible  chasm  sin  must 
have  introduced  into  the  world. 

I  have  thus  glanced  at  those  thoughts  familiar  to  most 
minds,  as  illustrative  of  the  greatness  of  Him  who  made 
the  heaven  and  the  earth,  and  all  things  visible  and  invisi- 
ble. Enough  remains  in  all  God's  works  to  indicate  benev- 
olence, and  to  show  that  he  is  not  only  an  almighty  Creator, 
but  a  benevolent  Creator.  I  know  there  are  jarring  ele- 
ments thrust  up  at  intervals  that  seem  to  prove  the  opposite, 
but  they  are  to  be  accounted  for  by  revelation  light,  and 
only  by  that  light.  But  take  the  world  as  we  find  it, 
and  we  discover  in  the  whole,  notwithstanding  the  ravages 
of  a  new  and  hostile  element,  wonderful  traces  of  benevo- 
lence. I  believe  no  physiologist  has  discovered  in  the 
human  body  a  single  nerve  that  was  designed  to  create  pain  ; 
he  has  not  found  a  single  vessel  that  was  meant  to  vitiate 
the  blood,  or  a  single  gland  originally  meant  to  secrete 
poison ;  the  whole  organization  of  man  indicates  original 
benevolence,  in  one  word,  that  the  benefit  and  happiness 
of  man  was  the  primal  end  of  the  first  creation  of  man. 
So,  when  we  look  on  God's  outer  world,  he  might,  for 
instance,  have  made  one  vast  monotonous  scene,  perfectly 
sufficient  to  grow  food  and  to  furnish  diink  for  man.  But 
as  we  are  refreshed  by  change,  and  cannot  bear  long  pro- 
tracted monotony,  he  has  introduced  infinite  variety.  The 
same  sight  always  seen,  the  same  tone  always  heard,  how- 
ever beautiful,  become  tiresome  in  the  end.  We  are  made 
for  the  enjoyment  of  variety.  Well,  God  has  condescended 
in  creation  to  minister  to  this.     What  splendid  variety  in 


CREATION.  57 

the  starry  sky !  what  rich  variety  in  a  landscape !  what 
variety  of  color  in  all  things  about,  above,  around,  and 
beneath  us  !  and  all  not  necessary  to  man,  but  all  emanating 
from  infinite  benevolence,  and  meant  to  be  happiness  to 
man.  What  is  no  less  striking  a  proof  of  creative  goodness 
is  this ;  that  the  best  portions  of  God's  created  world  no 
nobleman  or  prince  can  put  into  his  title  deeds,  or  claim  as 
his  monopoly.  For  instance,  when  I  go  out  into  the  coun- 
try, I  can  say  that  these  acres  belong  to  that  nobleman, 
those  fields  to  that  landlord ;  but  that  which  is  the  choicest 
of  both,  the  beautiful  landscape,  belongs  to  all ;  I  can  enjoy 
it  just  as  much  as  the  proprietor  of  it  all ;  and  I  can  see 
from  my  humble  door  the  splendor  of  a  starry  sky,  and  be 
refreshed  by  the  scene  as  intensely  as  the  greatest  king  or 
emperor  in  the  whole  earth.  How  interesting  is  it,  that, 
while  God  has  given  to  the  rich  man  stones,  earth,  water, — 
the  rough,  hard,  elementary  materials,  —  he  has  reserved 
the  cream  of  his  creation,  its  loveliest,  its  most  beautiful 
parts,  the  virgin  blush  of  morn,  and  the  matron  dignity  of 
even,  for  the  beggar  by  the  way-side  as  much  as  for  the 
peer,  the  prince,  or  the  nobleman.  We  see  in  all  this  rich 
and  deep  traces  and  evidences  of  God's  benevolence. 

We  may  fairly  argue,  after  these  reflections,  that,  if  God 
made  all,  God  governs  all.  If  we  suppose  that  God  made 
all,  as  we  are  sure,  we  may  very  logically  infer  that  God 
governs  all.  It  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  so  complicated 
an  economy  as  the  material  world,  and  the  organized  and 
living  beings  that  are  on  it,  would  go  on  unless  He  who 
originally  made  them  maintains  them.  We  know  that  by  a 
/  law,  which  every  philosopher  knows,  impulses  die,  forces 
exhaust  themselves.  And  in  the  absence  of  a  governing 
hand  and  impulsive  presence,  it  seems  to  me  creation  would 
stand  still,  fountains  would  cease  to  gush  forth,  rivers  to 
flow,  orbs  would  diverge  from  their  relationship,  and  all 


58^  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

creation  would  soon  resolve  itself  into  chaos  again.  It  is 
the  fool  looking  at  creation,  who  says,  "  No  God."  It  is  as 
great  a  fool,  who  looks  at  the  carrying  oa-  of  creation  and 
sees  no  God.  Creation's  origin  cries,  "  There  is  a  God : " 
its  continuance  cries,  "  There  is  a  God : "  the  Bible  says, 
"  for  by  him  all  things  were  made,  and  by  him  all  things 
consist." 

Atheism  is  the  most  illogical  and  unnatural  thing.  It 
seems  to  me  a  vacuum,  a  freezing  vacuum,  in  -v^^hich  no 
wing  can  soar,  no  human  being  can  breathe;  where  "all  i 
life  dies,  and  death  lives,  and  nature  breeds  perverse,  all 
monstrous,  all  prodigious  things."  And  surely,  if  it  be  an 
illogical  creed,  it  is  not  a  delightful  one.  To  have  no 
paternal  heart  to  feel  for  this  great  family  of  ours,  to  have 
no  open  eye  to  pity  us,  no  guiding  hand  to  keep  us ;  to  feel 
that,  when  we  lie  down  on  the  last  pillow,  on  which  we 
must  all  lie  down,  and  when  the  nearest  and  dearest  must 
leave  us,  unable  to  accompany  us  any  further,  there  is  no 
one  beyond  to  take  us  up,  —  it  is  intolerable,  it  is  dreadful, 
it  revolts  the  deepest  instincts  of  the  human  heart,  it  con- 
tradicts the  word  of  God. 

Having  noticed  these  simple  lessons,  I  venture  again  to 
allude  to  a  science  that  has  excited  very  great  attention,  of 
which  I  am  not  a  profound  student,  but  of  the  main  details 
of  which  I  know  something ;  I  mean,  what  has  been  sup- 
posed to  be  the  dissonance  between  geological  science,  and 
the  Mosaic  account  in  Genesis  of  the  creation  of  the  world. 
It  has  been  alleged  by  some  scientific  men  that  there  is  a 
discord  between  what  Moses  writes,  as  he  alleged,  by  the 
inspiration  of  God,  in  Genesis,  and  what  they  discover,  as 
they  truly  assert,  in  the  archives  of  the  globe  itself. 

I  recur  to  this  subject  to  notice,  very  briefly,  that  the 
Bible  was  not  written  to  teach  us  science :  this  was  not  its 
object ;  and  to  try  to  construct  a  scientific  system  from  the 


CREATION.  39 

pages  of  the  Bible,  is  to  try  to  extort  from  it  what  it  was 
never  meant  to  supply.  It  v»'as  written  in  human  speech, 
and  in  popular  phraseology,  to  convey  to  our  souls  precious 
and  saving  truths.  We  ourselves  know,  that  if  we  were  to 
hear  a  thorough  scientific  scholar,  being  a  minister  of  the 
gospel,  preaching,  never  *in  popular  phraseology,  but  in 
strictly  scientific  terms,  we  would  not  long  listen  to  him; 
because  much  that  he  said  would  seem  to  us  incongruous, 
much  would  be  unintelligible,  and  more  would  fail  in  con- 
veying those  precious  truths  that  we  come  to  church  to 
hear.  The  Bible  was  not  given  us  as  a  book  out  of  which 
systems  of  science  might  be  drawn.  The  chemist  may 
inquire  how  such  and  such  crystallization  took  place,  the 
astronomer  may  investigate  how  the  sun  and  moon  and 
earth  are  related,  and  the  geologist  may  try  to  determine 
how  old  the  earth  is ;  but  the  Bible  returns  to  the  chemist, 
the  astronomer,  and  the  geologist,  the  answer  which  its 
Author  returned  to  one  of  old,  who  asked  the  too  curious 
question,  "Are  there  many  that  be  saved  ?  "  "  Strive  to 
enter  in  at  the  strait  gate."  It  tells  them,  these  questions 
you  may  ask  of  creation,  and  try  to  extort  an  answer  by 
your  optic  tube,  or  your  crucible ;  and  by  all  means  try  to 
master  and  to  acquire  every  information  that  creation  can 
furnish ;  but  when  you  appeal  to  the  Bible,  you  come,  not 
as  geologists,  not  as  astronomers,  not  as  chemists,  but  as  sin- 
ners asking  a  question  infinitely  more  important,  "  Men  and 
brethren,  what  must  we  do  to  be  saved?"  That  is  the 
question  that  the  Bible  answers  in  varied  forms ;  and  anx- 
iously putting  the  same  question,  still  we  must  search  for  a 
suitable  answer. 

But,  while  this  is  perfectly  true,  there  are  in  the  Bible 
incidental  allusions,  occasional  passing  declarations,  which 
fairly,  and  without  forcing  them,  touch  the  domain  of 
science.     I  say,  in  stating  Divine  things,  and  in  illustrating 


60  THE  cnuRcn  before  the  flood. 

spiritual  truths,  there  are  figures  drawn  from  the  outer 
world,  and  incidental  references  to  great  physical,  provi- 
dential, or  natural  phenomena,  scattered  throughout  the 
pages  of  the  Bible.  If  one  could  discover  that  these 
incidental  allusions,  however  incidental,  never  main  but 
subordinate  things,  do  really  contradict  the  positive  and 
well  ascertained  conclusions  of  science,  —  if  one  should 
find  that  a  distinct  statement  in  Genesis  positively  contra- 
dicts a  distinct  discovery  made  by  a  patient  inquisitor  into 
the  archives  of  nature,  —  then  my  course  would  be  very 
plain.  I  know  not  that  the  mere  scientific  man  would  be 
able  to  take  the  same  course.  Mine  would  be  this,  —  I 
have  satisfied  myself  on  independent  evidence,  most  clear, 
most  conclusive,  to  my  mind  irresistible,  that  this  book  is 
from  God.  Having  done  this,  I  lay  aside  this  fact  on  a 
shelf  by  itself  in  my  mind,  there  to  remain  immovable,  not 
to  be  touched  by  any  thing,  because,  on  evidence  the  most 
satisfactory,  I  have  proved  this  Bible  to  be  Divine.  If  you 
discover  in  your  book  —  the  book  of  the  earth,  or  the  book 
of  the  sky  —  any  thing  to  contradict  it,  I  am  quite  sure  that 
there  must  be  some  flaw  in  your  calculation ;  for  my  book 
has  been  proved  by  incontestable  evidence  to  be  Divine, 
and  therefore  you  must  be  in  error  ;  your  conclusion  cannot 
be  just.  Wait  longer,  and  search  deeper.  Such  would  be 
my  reply.  It  would  not  satisfy  the  mere  scientific  man ; 
although,  I  might  add,  I  have  some  precedent  for  it :  for 
you  scientific  men  have  come  forward  to  prove  that  the 
Mosaic  account  was  untrue,  before  now;  and  only  after 
you  went  back  to  your  studies,  and  inquired  a  little  more 
profoundly,  did  you  admit  you  were  wrong.  Very  well, 
if  some  of  your  former  discoveries  have  by  yourselves  been 
admitted  to  have  been  wrong,  some  of  your  present  alleged 
discoveries,  which  you  marshal  against  revelation,  may,  on 
more  mature  investigation,  be  found  to  be  wrong  too ;  and 


CREATION.  61 

therefore  I  am  not  unwise  in  holding  this  Bible  as  Divine, 
and  waiting  patiently  until  you  become  a  little  riper  in  your 
studies ;  and  believing  that  then  you  will  certainly  find  that 
the  Bible  remains,  with  its  credentials  untouched,  the  inspi- 
ration and  the  revelation  of  God.  But  now,  while  this 
satisfies  me,  it  will  not  altogether  satisfy  the  scientific 
inquirer.  He  stumbles,  hesitates ;  and  the  sceptic  will  seize 
the  discoveries  of  science  and  fling  them  in  the  face  of 
Christianity ;  and  men  who  are  too  willing  to  get  something 
to  say  against  the  Bible,  because  it  prophesies  evil  about 
them,  —  men  who  are  too  anxious  to  get  their  intellects  to 
bear  out  what  their  passions  need,  in  order  to  cover  their 
indulgences,  —  will  be  too  thankful  to  catch  something  to 
throw  against  the  Bible ;  and  men  of  science,  who  are  full 
of  scientific  investigation,  and  enamoured  of  scientific  dis- 
covery, will  hesitate  before  they  accept  a  book  which,  they 
think,  contradicts  the  plainest  and  the  most  unequivocal 
disclosures  which  they  have  made  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  or  among  the  stars  of  the  sky.  To  all  these  I 
answer,  as  I  have  already  indicated,  there  is  not  the  least 
dissonance  between  God's  written  book  and  the  most 
mature  discoveries  of  modern  geological  science.  One 
thing,  however,  there  may  be ;  there  may  be  a  contradiction 
between  the  discoveries  of  geology  and  our  preconceived 
interpretations  of  the  Bible.  But  this  is  not  because  the 
Bible  is  wrong,  but  because  our  interpretation  of  it  was 
wrong. 

"  And  the  earth  was  without  form,  and  void ;  and  dark- 
ness was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep."  Now  here  is  the 
past  condition  of  the  globe,  prior  to  its  present  configura- 
tion, collocation,  and  arrangement.  After  this,  the  present 
configuration  of  the  globe  began,  about  six  thousand  years 
ago.  "The  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters.     And  God  said,  Let  there  be  light." 

6 


62  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Now  to  show  you  that  this  view  is  not  a  novel  one,  nor  a 
peculiar  one  of  my  own,  I  will  just  give  you  one  or  two 
extracts  from  a  very  remarkable  book,  indicating  great 
scientific  acquirements  united  to  deep  religious  feeling.  It 
is  written  by  Dr.  Hitchcock,  President  of  Amherst  College, 
and  Professor  of  Natural  Theology  and  Geology,  and  is 
called  "  The  Religion  of  Geology  and  its  connected  Sci- 
ences." He  gives  the  opinions  of  a  number  of  eminent 
men,  who  hold  this  view.  " '  The  interval,'  says  Bishop 
Horsley,  '  between  the  production  of  the  matter  of  chaos 
and  the  formation  of  light,  is  undescribed  and  unknown.* 

*  By  the  phrase,  in  the  beginning,'  says  Doederlin,  '  the 
time  is  declared  when  something  began  to  be.  But  when 
God  produced  this  remarkable  work,  Moses  does  not  pre- 
cisely define.'     'We  do  not  know,'   says   Sharon  Turner, 

*  and  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  at  what  point  of  the 
ever-flowing  eternity,  of  that  which  is  alone  eternal,  —  the 
Divine  subsistence,  —  the  creation  of  our  earth,  or  any  part 
of  the  universe,  began.'  '  All  that  we  can  learn  explicitly 
from  revelation  is,  that  nearly  six  thousand  years  have 
passed  since  our  first  parents  began  to  be.'  '  The  detailed 
history  of  creation  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,'  says 
Dr.  Chalmers,  'begins  at  the  middle  of  the  second  verse; 
and  what  precedes  might  be  understood  as  an  introductory 
sentence,  by  which  we  are  most  appositely  told,  both  that 
God  created  all  things  at  the  first,  and  that  afterwards  —  by 
what  interval  of  time  it  is  not  specified  —  the  earth  lapsed 
into  chaos,  from  the  darkness  and  disorder  of  which  the 
present  system  or  economy  of  things  was  made  to  arise. 
Between  the  initial  act  and  the  details  of  Genesis,  the 
world,  for  aught  we  know,  might  have  been  the  theatre 
of  many  revolutions,  the  traces  of  which  geology  may  still 
investigate.' "  Here  is  a  very  decided  testimony.  Dr.  Pye 
Smith,  too,  the  recent  president  of  Homerton  College,  says, 


Z  CREATION.  63 

"  A  philological  survey  of  the  initial  sections  of  the  Bible 
(Gen.  i.  1  to  ii.  3)  brings  out  the  result :  1.  That  the  first 
sentence  is  a  simple,  independent,  all-comprehending  axiom, 
to  this  effect  —  that  matter^  elementary  or  combined,  aggre- 
gated only  or  organized,  and  depeiident,  seiitient,  and  in- 
tellectual beings,  have  not  existed  from  eternity,  either  in 
self-continuity  or  succession,  but  had  a  beginning;  that 
their  beginning  took  place  by  the  all-powerful  will  of  one 
Being,  the  self-existent,  independent,  and  infinite  in  all 
perfection ;  and  that  the  date  of  that  beginning  is  not 
known.  2.  That  at  a  recent  epoch  our  planet  was  brought 
into  a  state  of  disorganization,  detritus,  or  ruin,'  (perhaps 
we  have  no  perfectly  appropriate  term,)  from  a  former 
condition.  3.  That  it  pleased  the  almighty,  wise,  and 
benevolent  Supreme,  out  of  that  state  of  ruin  to  adjust  the 
surface  of  the  earth  to  its  now  existing  condition,  the  whole 
extending  through  the  period  of  six  natural  days."  Dr. 
Harris  also  says,  "  My  firm  persuasion  is,  that  the  first 
verse  of  Genesis  was  designed  by  the  Divine  Spirit  to 
announce  the  absolute  organization  of  the  material  universe 
by  the  Almighty  Creator ;  and  that  it  is  so  understood  in 
the  other  parts  of  holy  writ ;  that,  passing  by  an  indefinite 
interval,  the  second  verse  describes  the  state  of  our  planet 
immediately  prior  to  the  Adamic  creation,  and  that  the 
third  verse  begins  the  account  of  the  six  days'  work."  Dr. 
King,  of  Glasgow,  Dr.  Schmucker,  of  the  Lutheran  Church, 
and  Dr.  Pond,  of  the  American  Church,  are  also  quoted 
in  this  very  book,  to  show  that  this  is  not  a  singular  opinion, 
but  one  held  by  the  best  divines,  who  have  had  the  mate- 
rials enabling  them  to  come  to  a  conclusion. 

The  disclosures  of  geology  justify  the  announcement  of 
revelation,  that  all  material  things  had  a  beginning.  Now, 
this  is  a  very  remarkable  fact,  that  geology  proves  that  the 
eternity  of  matter,  which  infidels  try  to  establish,  is  a  false- 


64  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

hood  and  a  fable.  In  other  -svords,  when  we  argued  with 
the  infidel,  and  said,  There  are  in  the  earth,  in  the  human 
body,  in  flowers,  and  trees,  and  all  things,  evidences  of 
design,  and  that  design  benevolent  design ;  and  therefore 
there  must  be  a  benevolent  designer ;  the  reply  of  the  scep- 
tic invariably  was,  that  this  was  always  the  case ;  and  unless 
you  can  show  that  this  long  chain  of  designs  had  a  begin- 
ning, you  do  not  prove  that  there  is  a  God  who  made  the 
world ;  because  it  has  continued  since  we  knew,  and  it  must 
always  continue,  and  we  infer  that  it  must  always  have 
been.  JSTow,  geology  settles  this ;  it  proves  to  demonstra- 
tion that  races  have  become  extinct,  and  that  new  acts  of 
creation  have  been  interposed.  I  think  it  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  and  wonderful  discoveries  of  this  science,  that 
the  Creator  has  more  than  twice,  thrice,  four,  or  perhaps  ten 
times,  stepped  in  and  created  by  distinct  acts  successive 
races  or  dynasties  of  animate  things.  In  other  words, 
geology  proves  how  true  is  the  announcement  of  Revela- 
tion, "In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the 
earth."  Dr.  Chalmers  has  wielded  this  argument  with  very 
great  force  in  his  Evidences  of  Natural  Religion,  which  are 
well  worth  perusing. 

And  this  science  proves,  too,  that  God  is  distinct  from 
creation,  and  not  what  the  Pantheists  suppose  him  to  be, 
part  and  parcel  of  creation. 

All  science,  therefore,  as  it  becomes  brighter,  is  casting 
fresh  light  upon  the  Scriptures,  and  proving,  if  the  Chris- 
tian needs  any  additional  proof,  that  "holy  men  of  old 
wrote  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost."  If  we 
take  the  Koran  of  Mahomet,  we  shall  find  statements  in  it 
inconsistent  with  the  simplest  elements  of  science.  If  we 
open  the  Vedas  of  the  East,  we  shall  find  that  they  contain 
the  most  absurd  and  irrational  description  of  the  physical 
world.     But  in  the  Bible  there  never  yet  has  been  found  a 


CREATION.  65 

single  statement  that  contradicts  the  discoveries  of  science. 
On  the  contrary,  science  rather  keeps  advancing  and  coming 
up  to  the  simple  statements  of  the  word  of  God.  And  in 
all  this  we  have  a  proof,  if  the  Christian  needs  it,  that 
"  holy  men  of  old  wrote  as  they  were  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost." 

Now,  this  God  who  in  the  beginning  made  the  heaven 
and  the  earth,  is  our  Father.  We  learn  this,  not  from  the 
archives  of  the  earth,  in  which  the  geologist  traces  his  foot 
prints,  and  fetches  up  the  proofs  and  monuments  of  his 
creative  power,  but  in  that  precious  book  which  tells  us  that 
in  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth. 
"Whether,  therefore,  we  see  God's  foot  prints  in  the  depths 
where  the  geologist  unfolds  them,  or  trace  God's  presence  in 
the  heights  where  the  astronomer  soars,  or  whether  He 
sweeps  past,  and  we  catch  a  glimpse  of  His  glory  as  he 
passes  by,  in  all  heights  —  in  all  depths  —  everywhere,  it  is 
God;  but  the  Christian  can  add,  It  is  our  Father.  No 
section  of  the  earth  discloses  to  the  Christian  a  hostile 
being,  but  every  part  of  it  discovers  to  him  his  Father. 
And  he  can  look  at  sun,  and  moon,  and  stars,  and  fruit,  and 
flower,  and  tree,  and  say  what  none  but  a  Christian  can  say, 
"  My  Father  made  thc%n  all." 

In  the  next  place,  seeing  God  in  every  creature,  and  see- 
ing that  God  governs  every  creature,  the  Christian  must 
feel  that  nothing  can  scathe  him  unseen  or  unpermitted  by 
God.  What  a  precious  thought  is  this  —  there  are  no  such 
things  in  this  world  as  accidents!  We  know  well  that. if 
the  pin  were  to  fly  out  of  the  axle  of  a  wheel,  it  might  be 
the  destruction  of  many  persons  ;  and  so  if  there  were  such 
a  thing  as  an  accident  thrust  into  God's  creation,  it  might 
be  the  disorganization  of  all.  There  are  no  such  things  as 
accidents,  but  all  are  permitted,  or  controlled,  and  directed 
by  God.  A  Christian  knows,  when  he  looks  abroad  on 
6* 


66  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

creation,  that  nothing  is  hostile  to  him.  That  avalanche, 
that  earthquake,  that  poison,  cannot  scathe  me;  all  are 
God's  creatures,  and  they  will  work  for  good  to  me ;  and  if 
it  is  his  will  to  make  use  of  any  one  of  them  to  remove  me, 
it  is  only  to  liberate  me  from  the  house  in  which  I  have 
tabernacled,  in  order  to  introduce  me  to  a  house  not  made 
with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens. 

Another  lesson  we  may  learn  from  this.  The  fact  that 
God  made  all  should  be  to  us  an  inducement  to  .make  a 
sanctified  use  of  all.  God  says,  when  you  sit  down  to  eat 
the  blessings  he  has  provided,  all  that  are  on  that  table 
are  my  creatures;  I  made  all.  That  bread  you  eat,  that 
water  you  drink,  the  wine  you  taste,  are  God's  creatures ; 
they  bear  the  superscription  and  the  stamp  of  their  Maker ; 
and  they  should  be  used  therefore  to  God's  glory.  There- 
fore, in  the  language  of  the  sacred  penman,  "  whether  ye 
eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  ye  do,  do  all  to  the  glory  of 
God." 

In  the  next  place,  may  we  not  gather  from  creation  a 
type  of  regeneration.  Some  Christians  believe  in  instant 
conversions  ;  I  doubt  them.  "What  is  called  an  instant  con- 
version is  very  often  the  result  of  innumerable  previous 
thoughts,  influences,  sympathies,  all  brought  to  converge 
into  one  focus ;  and  then  that  which  is  the  result  of  innu- 
merable previous  and  long  acting  elements  is  mistaken,  and 
supposed  by  him  who  is  its  subject  to  be  instantaneous.  In 
creation,  God  took  six  days  to  arrange  the  present  surface 
of  this  planet.  He  might  have  done  it  by  his  fiat,  but  he 
was  pleased  to  create  it  by  a  process;  and  I  think  this 
analogy  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  he  is  pleased  to  regen- 
erate by  a  process. 

If  God  made  so  beautiful  a  world  out  of  chaos,  if  the 
fairest  flowers  of  the  field  all  came  originally  out  of  the 
chaotic  elements  "  without  form  and  void,"  may  we  not  infer 


CREATION.  67 

at  least  the  possibility  of  what  Scripture  declares  to  be  a 
prophecy,  the  resurrection  of  the  dead ;  and  that  the  least 
atom  of  our  dust  God's  omniscience  sees,  and  God's  omnip-# 
otence  will  collect  and  reconstitute  again  in  living  and 
immortal  bodies. 

But  there  is  a  lesson  that  this  chapter  does  not  teach  — - 
that  we  are  not  what  God  made  us.  That  is  plain  enough. 
God  once  made  us  in  his  own  image,  and  he  pronounced  us 
to  be  good  :  who  does  not  feel,  for  our  own  hearts  condemn 
lis,  that  that  image  is  defaced,  that  the  glory  is  lost;  that 
we  once  were  friends,  but  we  are  many  of  us  foes ;  once  in 
communion  with  him,  now  many  of  us  strangers.  All  that 
is  wrong  in  man,  man  is  responsible  for.  The  Bible  never 
says  that  God  made  sin,  and  he  is  not  responsible  for  it. 
Wherever  it  came  from,  I  cannot  tell,  but  God  did  not 
make  it.  But  this  we  are  sure  of,  every  thing  that  remains 
good  in  the  universe  has  God  for  its  Author ;  but  all  that 
is  wicked,  all  that  is  sinful,  is  from  the  creature,  and  from 
the  creature  alone.  But,  blessed  be  God  !  though  we  made 
ourselves  evil,  he  has  not  left  us  to  our  own  devices;  he 
has  bowed  the  heavens,  and  come  into  our  world,  and  died 
for  us  upon  the  cross,  and  made  an  atonement  for  our  sins  ; 
and  through  His  precious  blood  we  may  be  restored  to  our 
lost  relationship,  reinstated  in  a  greater  dignity,  once  more 
be  the  sons  of  God,  and  the  world  close  with  a  grander 
Paradise  and  a  nobler  being  to  cultivate  it,  than  that  with 
which  creation  first  began. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE   FIRST    MAN,   ADAM,    AND    THE    LAST. 

"  Thou  man  thy  image  mad'st,  in  dignity, 
In  knowledge,  and  in  beauty  like  to  Thee; 
Placed  in  a  heaven  on  earth ;  without  his  toil, 
The  ever-flourishing  and  fruitful  soil 
Unpurchased  food  produced ;  all  creatures  were 
His  subjects,  serving  more  for  love  than  fear." 

"  Who  "  (Adam)  "  is  the  figure  of  him  that  was  to  come."  —  Eom.  v.  14. 

Creation  bears  still  over  all  its  aspects  the  evidences, 
not  only  of  creative  power,  but  of  beneficence  and  good- 
ness. God  might  have  made  the  orb  we  inhabit  a  prison  ; 
he  might  have  furnished  us  with  all  that  is  essential  to 
subsistence,  and  left  us  to  grope  our  way  upon  its  surface, 
and  to  endure  life  rather  than  to  live,  if  such  a  life  could 
be  called  living  at  all.  But,  instead  of  that,  he  has  made 
it  as  beautiful  as  the  hand  of  skill  and  as  the  heart  of 
beneficence  could  devise.  He  has  studded  its  ceiling  with 
stars,  as  with  a  thousand  lamps  ;  he  has  beautified  its  floor 
with  the  variegated  flowers  ^f  the  field,  and  made  creation 
a  ministry  of  beauty,  so  rich,  that  the  ceaseless  action  of 
six  thousand  years  have  not  been  able  to  destroy  it,  and 
the  sin  of  succeeding  generations  has  not  utterly  swept  it 
away. 

•  But  after  God  had  made  the  earth,  and  formed  all  its 
living  tenantry,  it  seems  one  was  wanting  to  be  the  capital 
and  the  crown,  the  ruler  and  priest  of  all.     The  birds  were 


THE    FIRST    MAN,   ADAM,   AND    THE   LAST.  69 

in  the  air,  those  choristers  of  the  earth,  whose  song  is  the 
anthem  of  the  sky,  the  fishes  in  the  streams,  the  cattle  upon 
a  thousand  hills ;  but  all  still  waited  for  him  who  is  pro- 
nounced by  St.  Paul  to  have  been  "  the  figure  of  him  that 
was  to  come."  Without  intelligence  inhabiting  the  earth, 
without  an  eye  to  read  it,  or  an  ear  to  hear  it,  it  would  have 
been  after  all  a  very  uninteresting  orb,  but  when  man  was 
placed  upon  it  in  his  meridian  wisdom,  strength,  and  health, 
then  it  was  perfect ;  it  was  pronounced  by  its  Maker  to  be 
"  very  good."  Man  was  the  eye  of  creation  to  see  the  hand 
that  governs  it,  the  ear  of  creation  to  hear  the  bidding  of 
Hira  who  made  it,  the  heart  of  creation  to  love  God,  the 
priest,  in  short,  of  creation  to  offer  up  its  many-voiced 
psalm  of  praise,  and  to  lift  up  its  incense,  perpetually  to 
inihister  a  holy  Levite  in  creation,  and  before  creation's 
God,  giving  unto  him  that  made  it  all  the  glory,  and  ihe 
honor,  and  the  praise.  Man,  therefore,  was  the  last  and 
the  noblest  of  creation's  birthweek ;  his  appearance  crowned 
it.  His  body  was  made  of  the  dust,  but  it  was  the  eflElores- 
cence  of  the  dust ;  just  as  the  diamond  is  made  of  charcoal, 
but  is  yet  the  diamond.  His  soul  was  made  in  the  likeness 
of  Deity,  immortal  as  God  is,  and  holy  as  God  is,  and 
happy  as  God  is.  He  had  in  that  garden  the  tree  of  life 
to  shade  him,  the  music  of  a  thousand  streams  to  delight 
him,  the  very  branches  of  the  trees  were  harp-strings  that 
hymned  God's  praise,  and  it  required  his  voice  only  to 
mingle  in  the  universal  harmony  to  render  homage  to  him 
who  governs  all,  and  would  preserve  all. 

After  man's  creation,  oh  w^hich  I  need  not  dwell,  we  have 
a  sentiment  enunciated  by  Him  who  knew  man,  it  was  not 
good  that  man  should  be  alone ;  and  therefore  he  made  one 
to  be  a  helpmate,  that  is,  meet,  or  appropriate,  for  him. 
Does  not  this  teach  us  that  the  social  state  is  man's  natural 
state?  that  the  monastic,  the  ascetic,  the  insulated  life  is 


70  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

man's  'unnatural  state  ?  This  is  evinced  by  fact.  In  soli- 
tude man  degenerates ;  in  society,  as  part  of  a  mighty 
whole,  man  advances  and  develops  his  powers,  his  faculties, 
and  his  endowments,  in  the  highest  possible  degree.  In 
other  words,  man  was  not  made  to  be  a  solitary,  but  a  social 
being.  The  special  evidence  of  this-was  God's  institution 
of  marriage ;  it  has  its  divine  foundation  and  origin  in  God ; 
God  himself  was  the  first  celebrant  of  it,  and  it  is  the  insti- 
tution that  still  survives  the  fall.  It  w^as  reconstituted  or 
rebaptized  by  Christ  when  he  quoted  the  very  words  of  this 
chapter,  indicating  in  the  one  voice  the  inspiration  of  Moses, 
and  demonstrating  in  the  other  the  propriety  of  that  ordi- 
nance, the  history  and  original  of  which  is  here  recorded. 
"We  thus  learn  that  marriage  is  not  a  mere  civil  contract.  Of 
course  it  is  a  civil  contract,  so  far  as  that  the  law  of  the  land 
must  be  the  basis  of  it  for  all  legal  purposes ;  but  it  is  really 
and  truly  more  than  that ;  it  is  a  Divine  institution.  It  is 
legal  marriage  to  be  married  at  the  registrar's  office,  but  it 
is  not  Christian  marriage.  It  does  seem  to  me  that  it  is  not 
a  mere  civil  union  to  be  recognized  by  law,  which  of  course 
it  must  be,  but  that  it  is  as  well  a  sacred,  a  spiritual,  and  a 
religious  ordinance,  never  to  be  celebrated  without  religious 
rites,  religious  sanction,  and  under  the  influence  of  religious 
principles.  Destroy  Christianity,  and  how  long  do  you 
think  will  marriage  last?  Take  away  religion,  and  it 
becomes  a  mere  joint-stock  agreement,  which  may  last  for 
years,  for  months,  or  for  weeks,  according  to  the  taste  and 
the  temperament  of  the  parties.  But  admit  the  high  and 
holy  sanction  of  religion,  and  then  it  is  not,  what  Romanism 
calls  it,  a  sacrament ;  but  it  is,  as  Protestants  regard  it,  a 
solemn,  a  holy,  and  a  lasting  union,  to  be  dissolved  only  by 
death,  and  the  shadow  and  the  type  of  a  greater  one,  to 
which  the  Apostle  alludes  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 
We  gather  from  God's  appointment  in  connection  with 


THE    FIRST   MAN,   ADAM,   AND    THE    LAST.  71 

man,  that  polygamy  never  was  God's  design,  nor  was  it 
meant  for  man.  It  was  not  God's  purpose ;  for  Adam  was 
created,  and  Eve  was  brought  to  him,  and  it  is  said  that  a 
man  shall  "  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall  cleave 
unto  his  wife  (not  wives)  ;  and  they  shall  be  one  flesh." 
And,  as  if  nature  itself  would  testify  against  the  infraction 
of  the  Divine  ordinance,  wherever  polygamy  exists,  as  in 
Mahometan  countries,  there  the  human  race  rapidly  degen- 
erates ;  and  only  where  the  Christian  sanctions,  and  the 
Christian  law,  and  the  Christian  principles  are  developed 
and  carried  into  practice,  is  it  seen  that  society  reaches  to 
its  culminating  grandeur,  and  man,  instead  of  retrograding 
down  to  the  brutes  that  perish,  approximates  to  God  in 
moral,  in  intellectual,  and  even  in  physical  state ;  and  society 
ceases  to  be  a  drove,  and  becomes  a  nation.  I  might  give 
the  very  simple  illustration  of  the  truth,  that  polygamy  is 
not  designed,  in  the  very  simple  fact  that  the  sexes  are 
very  nearly  equal  in  number.  There  is  a  slight  prepon- 
derance of  the  female  sex ;  but  the  proportion  of  male  to 
female  is,  what  it  has  ever  been,  very  nearly  equal. 

It  is  the  religious  sanction  that  gives  the  wife  her  proper 
dignity,  her  true  place  and  relationship.  In  some  countries 
the  wife  is  regarded  merely  as  an  elegant  and  sensuous 
toy.  In  other  countries  she  is  made  a  domestic  servant. 
In  Hindoo  countries  she  is  degraded  to  the  lowest  possible 
level  to  which  so  beautiful  a  fragment  of  humanity  can  be 
driven.  Only  in  Christian,  primarily  in  Protestant,  coun- 
tries —  I  say,  primarily  and  chiefly  in  Protestant  countries, 
does  she  become  the  companion,  the  confidant,  the  friend, 
the  equal  of  man.  Beautifully,  though  rather  quaintly,  is 
it  remarked  by  Henry,  but  not  less  truly,  that  she  was  not 
taken  from  man's  head,  to  govern  him,  nor  from  man's  foot, 
to  be  trampled  on  by  him,  but  from  man's  side,  to  indicate 
companionship,  coequality,  and  mutual  friendship.      That 


UNXVBRSITT 


r^ 


72  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

she  is  of  the  same  original  rank  and  dignity  as  man,  is 
plain  from  her  very  name.  She  was  called  Isha.  The 
Hebrew  for  a  man  is  Ish ;  for  a  woman  it  is  Isha ;  just  as 
we  say,  "  lion,"  "  lioness."  Here  it  is  "  man,"  and  "  man- 
ness,"  which  words  would  be  the  literal  translation  of  the 
Hebrew.  Thus  it  is  shown  that  she  has  the  same  rank,  and 
the  same  gifts,  and  the  same  powers  in  her  own  sphere  that 
man  has.  Woman  only  loses  power  when  she  steps  from 
the  sphere  that  she  adorns  into  one  that  she  was  uot  meant 
for ;  just  as  man  loses  his  finest  tone  and  temperament  when 
he  degrades  her  from  the  position  that  she  should  occupy, 
and  sinks  her  into  one  for  which  she  was  never  meant. 
You  will  find  that  it  is  by  each  keeping  to  his  own  place, 
that  each  will  excel.  There  is  a  sphere  where  woman  is 
sure  to  fail,  and  the  reaction  will  be  her  own  degradation ; 
and  there  is  a  sphere  where  man  is  sure  not  to  excel,  and 
the  result  will  be  only  his  own  ruin.  It  is  by  each  holding 
his  own  place,  invested  wuth  his  original  attributes,  and  ful- 
filling the  duties  that  God  has  assigned,  that  each  receives 
his  true  lustre,  and  both  are  felt  useful  one  to  the  other. 

This  union,  which  is  here  indicated,  is  to  death.  There 
is  no  law  in  the  Scriptures  indicating  any  sanction  of  separa- 
tion, unless  for  the  violation  of  the  very  essence  of  the  holy 
compact.  What  God  has  joined  let  no  man  put  asunder. 
And,  except  on  the  strength  of  this  testimony,  I  cannot  see 
any  ground  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  marriage  compact. 

The  next  remarkable  fact  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  man,  is  the  institution  of  the  Christian  Sabbath.  I  state 
these  things  as  preparatory  to  a  parallel  which  is  based 
upon  these  facts.  God,  it  is  said,  rested  on  the  seventh 
day.  This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  and  few  would  suppose 
it,  that  God  was  weary  and  took  rest.  The  simple  mean 
fact  is,  that  God  rested  from  creation  work  on  the  Sabbath 
day.     This   is   plain   from   our   Lord's   own  words,  "My 


THE    FIRST    MAN,   ADAM,   AND    THE    LAST.  73 

Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work,"  meaning  that  on  the 
Sabbath  day  God  carries  on  his  work  of  providence  just  as 
much  as  on  the  other  days  of  the  week.  And  therefore  all 
that  is  meant  is,  that  he  ceased  from  one  kind  of  work. 
The  new  dynasty  was  introduced,  and  God  therefore  ceased 
from  creation  work.  But  providential  work  he  still  carries 
on.  For  instance,  the  sap  rising  from  the  roots  of  plants 
and  trees  to  the  stem,  the  earth  marching  in  its  orbit,  the 
sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars  pursuing  their  courses,  are 
all  by  the  immediate  power  of  God  put  forth  upon  the 
seventh  day  just  as  it  is  put  forth  on  the  rest  of  the  days  of 
the  week.  And  therefore,  we  are  now  to  understand  by 
our  resting  on  the  Sabbath,  not  simply  the  staying  of  the 
water-wheel,  the  hushing  of  the  whistle  of  the  railway 
engine,  and  the  shutting  up  of  the  shop-windows,  and  so 
much  of  the  sangie  kind  that  is  right  and  proper,  but  also 
that  that  day  is  to  be  spent  in  active  work  also,  namely,  in 
enlightening  our  minds,  in  ministering  to  each  other's  com- 
fort, and  to  each  other's  spiritual,  intellectual,  and  moral 
good,  and  in  doing  every  thing  within  our  reach  to  make 
society  around  us  more  holy  and  happy.  The  Sabbath 
plainly  is  not  a  mere  Jewish  institution.  The  evidence  of 
that  is,  Adam  was  not  a  Jew,  perhaps  I  might  say  he  was 
not  a  Gentile ;  he  was  neither ;  but  the  Sabbath  was  insti- 
tuted for  the  use  of  Adam  as  the  father  of  the  human  race, 
not  as  the  first  link  in  the  ancient  Jewish  or  Levitical 
economy.  Therefore,  the  original  institution  of  the  Sab- 
bath is  evidence  that  it  is  not  a  Jewish  institution,  merely 
for  the  Jews,  and  to  pass  away  with  their  economy,  but  that 
it  is  for  all  mankind,  and  the  right  of  all  mankind ;  so  that 
each  man  has  just  as  great  a  right  to  have  his  Sabbath  as 
he  has  to  have  his  Bible.  It  is  true  toleration  to  prevent 
anybody  keeping  the  Bible  from  you,  and  it  is  true  tolera- 
tion to  prevent  anybody  keeping  the  Sabbath  from  you.  It 
7 


74  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

is  your  right ;  God  has  given  it  to  you  as  his  own  precious 
gift ;  use  it,  sanctify  it,  devote  it  to  the  holiest  of  purposes, 
and  allow  all  men  within  your  reach  the  enjoyment  that 
you  yourselves  have. 

The  Sabbath  thus  instituted  was  a  patriarchal  observance 
before  the  giving  of  the  law.  The  ceasing  of  the  manna 
on  the  seventh  day,  which  was  also  before  the  law,  is  evi- 
dence that  the  Sabbath  was  then  observed.  The  fourth 
commandment  says,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,  io  keep 
it  holy,"  which  shows  that  instead  of  its  being  the  institu- 
tion of  it,  it  was  only  a  reference  to  its  prior  institution.  It 
says,  "  Remember  the  Sabbath  day,"  a  day  that  they  knew, 
only  to  be  recollected,  not  to  be  instituted  in  order  to  be 
.observed. 

It  is  said,  God  blessed  that  day.  He  blessed  it  just  in 
the  same  manner  as  our  Saviour  blessed  the  bread  at  the 
communion  table.  Just  as  he  set  apart  that  bread,  instead 
of  being  a  common  meal,  to  be  a  sacramental  thing;  so  God 
set  apart  this  day  from  being  a  day  for  common  work,  to  be 
a  day  for  sequestered  purposes,  and  for  holy  work. 

If  the  Sabbath  were  needful  for  man  in  Paradise,  how 
much  more  needful  is  it  for  man  now !  If  then  he  needed 
some  day  to  remind  him  more  vividly  of  what  he  owed  to 
God,  how  much  more  do  we  need  it  now !  Let  us,  there- 
fore, value  the  Sabbath ;  let  us  defend  the  Sabbath  from  all 
aggression  that  would  taint,  pollute,  or  destroy  it.  When  a 
nation  loses  its  Sabbaths,  it  loses  the  firmest  pillars  of  its 
stability,  its  grandeur,  and  its  power.  The  real  secrets  of  a 
nation's  strength  are  not  what  we  hear,  nor  what  we  see, 
but  they  are  its  religion,  its  Sabbaths,  its  Bibles.  These  are 
like  the  piers  sunk  in  the  flood  below  the  tide  mark,  invisi- 
ble to  us,  but  upon  them  rests  the  whole  superstructure  of 
national  greatness  and  national  strength. 

It  has,  however,  been  objected,  that  we  had  no  right  to 


THE   FIRST    MAN,   ADAM,   AND    THE    LAST.  75 

change  this  day  from  the  seventh,  on  which  day  it  was 
originally  instituted,  to  the  first.  I  answer,  there  are  two 
parts  in  the  Sabbath ;  there  is  the  ceremonial  part,  which  is 
the  day  which  is  to  be  observed ;  there  is  the  moral  part, 
which  is  the  seventh  portion  of  our  time:  it  is  not  the 
seventh  day,  but  it  is  the  seventh  portion  of  our  time  conse- 
crated to  Sabbath  work,  and  to  Sabbath  objects.  Now  the 
ceremonial  of  the  Jewish  religion  is  altered,  and  the  cere- 
monial of  the  Christian  religion  alters  according  to  circum- 
stances, but  the  moral  and  spiritual  remain.  So  the  mere 
ceremonial  of  the  Sabbath  varies  with  varying  circum- 
stances, but  the  moral  remains.  For  instance,  at  the  Anti- 
podes it  is  now  Saturday  with  them,  whereas  it  is  Sabbath 
with  us ;  and  if  you  go  half-way  to  the  Antipodes,  they 
have  half  of  our  Sabbath  and  a  portion  of  our  Saturday. 
It  follows,  then,  that  the  exact  day  cannot  be  observed  over 
the  whole  earth,  for  it  is  Sabbath  with  us  and  Saturday  at 
the  Antipodes ;  and  thus  it  varies  over  the  whole  surface 
of  the  globe.  And,  therefore,  we  have  evidence  that  the 
ceremonial  is  adapted  to  circumstances,  but  the  moral  or 
ever  recurring  seventh  day,  constituted  and  observed  as  the 
Sabbath,  is  of  absolute  obligation.  And  then  we  read  that 
the  reason  of  the  change  was,  that  he  who  proclaimed  him- 
self Lord  of  the  Sabbath,  —  he,  mind  you,  not  who  was 
called  so,  but  who  proclaimed  himself  Lord  6f  the  Sab- 
bath, —  assigned  the  first  day  of  the  week  to  be  the  Chris- 
tian Sabbath.  And  every  seventh  day  still  recurring  is 
still  the  Sabbath,  only  it  is  the  first,  in  order  to  remind  us 
not  only  of  creation,  but  to  lead  us  to  anticipate  the  world 
that  shall  be  restored  to  the  righteousness  and  love  of 
Christ  Jesus. 

We  have  thus  seen  the  leading  incidents  in  another  chap- 
ter of  Genesis.  It  is  now  said  that  Adam,  thus  surrounded, 
thus  invested,  was  a  type,  or  a  figure,  for  the  word  is  the 


76  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

same,  of  him  that  was  to  come,  that  is,  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  And  to  show  that  this  is  not  a  solitary  passage,  I 
refer  to  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  where  Paul 
tells  us  also  in  the  4oth  verse  of  the  15th  chapter,  "  The 
first  man,  Adam,  was  made  a  living  soul ;  the  last  Adam 
was  made  a  quickening  spirit."  Then,  the  47th  verse  says, 
"  The  first  man  is  of  the  earth,  earthy :  the  second  man  is 
the  Lord  from  heaven."  Throughout  the  Epistle  to  the 
Komans,  he  argues  on  the  hypothesis  that  the  first  Adam 
was  the  type  of  the  second.  Let  us  see  then  if  there  is 
any  parallelism,  or  if  the  first  be  illustrative  of  the  second. 

The  first  Adam  was  formed  of  the  dust  of  the  earth, 
breathed  into  immediately  by  God,  without  a  father  and 
without  a  mother.  In  so  far,  he  seems  to  have  been  typical 
of  the  second ;  for  our  Lord,  as  relates  to  his  humanity,  had 
no  father ;  as  relates  to  his  Deity,  had  no  mother.  And 
therefore,  contrary  to  the  sentiments  of  the  Roman  Church, 
we  assert  that  Joseph  was  not  the  father  of  Jesus,  and  Mary 
was  not  the  mother  of  God. 

In  the  next  place,  Adam  was,  when  first  created,  a  new 
manifestation  of  God.  The  rest  of  the  animals  that  pre- 
ceded the  creation  of  Adam  were  created  out  of  the  dust, 
and  had  mere  animal  life,  but  no  more.  But  Adam  consti- 
tuted a  new  manifestation ;  he  was  a  link  between  matter 
as  embodied  in  the  animal  creation,  and  spirit  as  existent  in 
the  angels  that  are  around  the  throne.  He  combined  in 
himself  the  ethereal  and  the  material,  and  was  so  far  a 
manifestation  of  God.  We  are  told  that  what  ^as  true  in 
the  type  is  more  gloriously  so  in  the  Antitype :  for  Jesus, 
as  we  are  told  by  the  Apostle,  is  "  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh,"  is  the  perfect  man.  Looking  to  him,  we  can  see  the 
idea  that  was  wrecked  in  Adam,  restored  in  Christ,  and 
acquainted  with  him  you  can  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  glory 
of  God  as  he  sweeps  by ;  thus  we  see  in  Jesus  the  model 


THE   FIRST   MAN,   ADAM,   AND    THE    LAST.  77 

of  the  perfect  man,  the  manifestation  of  the  gracious  God, 
and  now  the  most  glorious  manifestation  in  the  history  of 
God's  dealings  with  mankind. 

Again,  Adam  was,  when  he  was  made,  constituted  the 
lord  of  creation ;  he  was  the  governor  of  all ;  he  gave  names 
to  all ;  and  these  names  were  indicative  of  his  lordship. 
And  wh(f  does  not  see  traces  of  that  lordship  still  ?  Even 
the  powerful  lion,  unless  very  ravenous  with  hunger,  will 
shrink  back  from  man ;  and  it  is  said,  that  they  who  have 
the  nerve  and  the  physical  firmness,  when  assailed  by  wild 
beasts,  may  by  a  fixed  and  piercing  eye,  make  them  flinch 
back.  The  brute  creation  seems  to  catch  in  man's  face  a 
fugitive  shadow  of  ancient  dominion,  that  makes  them  wince 
from  his  presence.  That  lordship  may  degenerate  into 
tyranny,  which  sin  has  made  it,  but  there  is  enough  of  it 
left  to  show  that  it  was  once,  and  there  is  enough  of  its 
perversion  to  show  how  sin  has  driven  it  out  of  ^course. 
But  man's  original  positioa  was  to  be  lord  of  all  creation, 
and  if  he  had  not  let  go  his  peace,  when  he  let  go  his  alle- 
giance to  God,  it  would  be  so  still.  Man  rose  in  mutiny 
against  God,  and  all  nature  instantly  rose  in  mutiny  against 
man.  But  as  Adam  was  the  lord  of  creation,  and  meant  to 
be  so,  we  read  that  our  blessed  Redeemer  is  Lord  of  crea- 
tion by  right,  and  shall  be  Lord  of  creation  in  fact.  We 
read  in  the  eighth  Psalm,  "  0  Lord  our  Lord,  how  excellent 
is  thy  name  in  all  the  earth !  who  hast  set  thy  glory  above 
the  heavens.  Out  of  the  mouth  of  babes  and  sucklings 
hast  thou  'ordained  strength  because  of  thine  enemies,  that 
thou  mightest  still  the  enemy  and  the  avenger.  When  I 
consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers,  the  moon 
and  the  stars,  which  thou  hast  ordained ;  what  is  man  that 
thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  and  the  son  of  man,  that  thou 
visitest  him  ?  For  thou  hast  made  him  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels,  and  hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor- 
7* 


78  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Thou  madest  him  to  have  dominion  over  the  works  of  thy 
hands ;  thou  hast  put  all  things  under  his  feet "  —  here  was 
tha  first  constitution :  "  all  sheep  and  oxen,  yea,  and  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  the  fish  of  the 
sea,  and  whatsoever  passeth  through  the  paths  of  the  seas. 
O  Lord  our  Lord,  how  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the 
earth ! "  Now  we  find  the  Apostle  Paul  quoting^this  very 
Psalm  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  stating,  (ii.  6-9,) 
"  But  one  in  a  certain  place  testified,  saying,  What  is  man, 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him  ?  or  the  son  of  man,  that  thou 
visitest  him?  Thou  madest  him  a  little  lower  than  the 
angels ;  thou  crownedst  him  with  glory  and  honor,  and  didst 
set  him  over  the  works  of  thy  hands:  thou  hast  put  all 
things  in  subjection  under  his  feet.  For  in  that  he  put  all 
in  subjection  under  him,  he  left  nothing  that  is  not  put 
under  him.  But  now  we  see  not  yet  all  things  put  under 
him.  But  we  see  Jesus,  who  was  made  a  little  lower  than 
the  angels  for  the  suffering  of  death,  crowned  with  glory 
and  honor ;  that  he  by  the  grace  of  God  should  taste  death 
for  every  man."  In  other  words,  the  Apostle  indicates  that 
Christ  sits  upon  his  throne,  till  all  his  enemies  shall  be  made 
his  footstool ;  that  he  is  by  right  and  by  original  investiture 
Lord  of  all.  The  day  comes  when  what  is  right  shall  be 
fact ;  and  he  who  has  justly,  and  by  title,  the  right  of  all, 
shall  be  in  history  throned  Lord  of  all. 

In  the  next  place,  Adam  felt  it  not  good,  as  I  have  ex- 
plained, to  be  alone,  and  God  made  "an  help  meet  for 
him."  How  interesting  is  the  fact,  that  Jesus,  surrounded 
by  cherubim  and  seraphim,  in  glory  which  we  cannot  con- 
ceive, and  eye  hath  not  seen,  and  ear  hath  not  heard,  need- 
ing nothing  to  add  to  his  happiness,  capable  of  nothing  that 
could  detract  from  that  happiness  —  how  mysterious,  how 
remarkable,  that  he,  like  Adam,  if  I  might  use  an  expres- 
sion capable  of  misconstruction,  felt  alone,  and  selected  a 


THE    FIRST    MAN,    ADAM,    AND    THE    LAST.  79 

people  out  of  every  kindred  and  tongue  to  be  liis  "  bride  "  — 
"  the  Lamb's  wife  "  —  I  use  the  hmguage  of  Scripture,  that 
he  might  present  her  to  himself  "  a  glorious  church,  without 
spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing."  Now,  why  did  Christ 
thus  interfere?  There  is  no  answer  except  in  his  own 
love.  Why  pass  by  the  angols  that  fell  —  the  loftier 
nature  —  and  lay  hold  of  us  ?  I  cannot  answer.  Why 
interpose  to  rescue  those  who  had  ruined  fliemselves?  I 
cannot  answer,  except  in  these  Avords,  "  God  so  loved  the 
world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  And  when  I  think  that  that  soul  which  is  in  each 
man's  body  had  a  beginning,  but  never  can  have  an  end,  I 
can  well  see  that  if  that  grand  interposition  had  not  been, 
ours  had  been  endless  sorrow,  and  endless  suffering ;  for 
through  that  interposition  alone  our  lost  inheritance  is 
restored,  our  forfeited  rights  returned,  and  man  made  capa- 
ble of  the  hopes  of  glory,  and  of  honor,  and  of  immortality. 
We  read  that  Eve  his  wife  was  taken  from  Adam's  side 
while  he  slept.  Some  of  our  modern  philosophers  laugh  at 
this.  Very  well ;  give  me  a  better  history,  give  me  what 
you  can  prove  to  be  true,  and  I  will  accept  it ;  but  I  have 
heard  of  no  account  so  simple  and  so  satisfactory  as  that 
which  is  contained  in  the  book  of  Gq^iesis.  You  may  talk 
of  it  as  a  thing  strange,  but  it  may  have  had  its  spiritual 
significance  as  well  as  historic  truth,  and  may  contain  more 
than  we  have  yet  learned.  But,  at  all  events,  whatever  is 
its  significance,  it  is  recorded  as  fact ;  and  we  are  satisfied  to 
keep  the  old  facts  in  our  creed,  till  they  are  dislodged  by 
others  that  can  be  proved  to  be  so,  and  something  better. 
Eve  was,  then,  taken  from  Adam's  side,  while  Adam  was 
thrown  into  a  deep  slumber ;  so  that  during  the  operation 
he  slept,  and  the  chasm  created  in  his  side  was  more  than 
compensated  by  an  accession  immediately  after  to  the  hap- 


80  IHE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

piness  and  comfort  and  joy  of  his  heart.  When  Jesus  hung 
upon  the  cross,  and  his  side  was  pierced,  and  he  was  laid  in 
the  sleep  of  death  in  that  solitary  tomb  in  the  garden,  his 
church  started  to  her  feet,  having  there  her  birthplace, 
entered  on  her  majestic  and  glorious  career,  and  will  not 
cease  until  he  presents  her  to  himself,  "  a  glorious  church, 
without  spot,  or  wrinkle,  or  blemish,  or  any  such  thing." 
The  idea  of  #he  Apostle  is  so  perfectly  beautiful,  and  so 
descriptive  of  the  fact,  that  I  again  refer  to  it.  "  Husbands, 
love  your  wives,  even  as  Christ  also  loved  the  church,  and 
gave  himself  for  it ;  that  he  might  sanctify  and  cleanse  it 
with  the  washing  of  water  by  the  word,  that  he  might  pre- 
sent it  to  himself  a  glorious  church,  not  having  spot,  or 
wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing ;  but  that  it  should  be  holy  and 
without  blemish."     Eph.  v.  25-27. 

We  learn  from  the  Scriptures,  that  Adam  was  a  federal 
and  a  representative  person.  In  him  all  humanity  was, 
with  him  to  stand  in  its  pristine  allegiance,  or  with  him  to 
fall.  Jesus  also  has  been  constituted  our  federal  head. 
What  Adam  did,  all  humanity  is  guilty  of.  I  do  not  stop  to 
explain  it,  I  merely  quote  what  is  the  expression  of  Scrip- 
ture—  what  Adam  did,  all  humanity  is  guilty  of;  what 
Jesus,  the  second  Adam  did,  all  believers  get  the  advantage 
of,  just  as  if  they  h^d  done  it.  Nature  proves  in  all  her 
economy  that  we  fell  in  Adam.  Revelation  shows  through 
all  its  pages,  how  we  may  be  restored  in  Christ.  Adam's 
sin  has  smitten  those  who  have  not  personally  sinned  after 
his  transgression  —  innocent  babes;  Christ's  righteousness 
is  imputed  to  those  who  have  not  done  righteously,  but  are 
the  chiefest  of  sinners,  that  believe  in  him.  "  He  hath 
made  him  to  be  sin  for  us,  who  knew  no  sin ;  that  we  might 
be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in  him."  2  Cor.  v.  21. 
All  that  we  lost  in  Adam  is  more  than  restored  in  Christ, 
by  what  he  has  bequeathed  to  them  that  believe,  to  them 


THE    FIRST    MAN,    ADAM,    AND    THE    LAST.  81 

that  are  his  adopted  and  regenerated  family  —  an  inheri- 
tance which  Adam  never  had  —  a  glory  to  which  Adam 
could  have  never  risen  —  an  inheritance  incorruptible,  and 
undefiled,  and  that  fadeth  not  away.  The  first  Adam  fell  in 
the  most  favorable  circumstances ;  the  second  Adam  glo- 
riously triumphed  in  the  most  hostile  circumstances.  Our 
estate  was  lost  in  a  garden,  it  was  regained  in  a  desert. 
The  first  Adam,  with  every  thing  in  his  favor,  lost  all ;  the 
second  Adam,  with  every  thing  against  him,  more  than  re- 
gained all.  Paradise  lost  is.  the  history  of  the  one ;  Para- 
dise regained  is  the  bright  epitome  of  the  other. 

Creation  shall  have  a  Sabbath.  The  Jewish  Rabbis  all 
say,  —  whether  they  have  got  it  from  tradition,  —  or 
wherever  they  got  it  I  know  not,  that  the  seven  thousandth 
year  of  the  world  will  be  its  great  Sabbath,  or,  as  it  is 
called  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  iv.  9,  the  oa^^ariaiidg, 
the  rest  that  "  remaineth  to  the  people  of  God."  We  have 
reason  to  believe,  then,  that  the  earth  is  not  finally  cast  off, 
that  the  devil  will  not  have  it  as  his  possession.  It  is  God's 
eartli;  it  bears  still  the  traces  of  his  handiwork;  his  foot 
prints  are  over  it ;  and  though  the  trail  of  the  serpent  has 
polluted  its  brightest  flowers,  and  sin,  like  a  fever  in  its 
heart,  has  wrecked  and  convulsed  it  from  its  centre  to  its 
circumference,  yet  it  basks  in  the  hopes  of  a  glorious  resur- 
rection. Earth  shall  put  off  its  long  working-day  clothes, 
which  it  has  worn  for  six  days,  or  six  thousand  years,  and 
put  on  its  Easter  robe,  and  be  more  beautiful  than  it  was 
when  it  came  from  the  creative  word  of  God.  I  believe 
that  where  sin  hath  abounded,  grace  hath  much  more 
abounded ;  that  there  is  nothing  that  v;e  lost  in  Adam  that 
shall  not  be  more  than  restored  in  Christ. 

But,  will  there  not  be  those  who  shall  be  sentenced  to 
everlasting  misery?  and  that  would  not  have  been,  you 
argue,  if  Adam  had  not  fallen.     But  why  are  they  sen- 


r 


82  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

tenced  to  everlasting  misery  ?  Adam  did  not  sin  against  his 
will,  and  no  man  is  cast  out  of  lieaven,  or  from  tlie  hopes  of 
heaven,  against  his  will.  No  man  is  lost  in  spite  of  him- 
self. The  devil  worked  in  Adam  to  will  and  to  do  of  his 
evil  pleasure ;  and  the  Holy  Spirit  works  in  us  to  will  and 
to  do  of  his  good  pleasure.  Adam  was  lost  wilfully,  wick- 
edly, criminally ;  sinners  now  are  lost  exactly  in  the  same 
way,  because  Avilfully  they  reject  the  great  remedy,  the 
salvation  provided  in  the  gospel  of  Christ.  Let  us  then 
know,  that  not  one  soul  will  be  in  the  realms  of  the  lost  in 
consequence  of  Adam's  transgression.  I  am  not  denying 
the  inheritance  of  it,  I  am  not  denying  the  imputation  of 
it ;  but  I  believe  that  not  one  soul  will  be  among  the  lost  in 
consequence  of  what  Adam  did,  but  that  the  condemning 
sin  will  be,  "  that  light  is  come  into  the  world,  and  men 
loved  darkness  rather  than  light,  because  their  deeds  were 
evil."  This  is  the  condemnation,  that  ye  will  not  believe  in 
the  Son  of  God,  whom  he  hath  sent.  Therefore,  I  believe 
that  when  earth  shall  be  restored  and  replaced  in  its  former 
orbit,  and  rebeautified  with  more  than  its  pristine  glory, 
Satan  will  not  be  able  to  count  one  wreck,  or  to  lay  his 
finger  on  one  thing,  animate  or  inanimate,  and  say,  "  This  is 
suffering,  because  I  succeeded."  But  every  lost  creature 
will  have  the  corroding  and  the  painful  recollection,  that 
that  creature  ruined  itself,  has  passed  into  misery  a  suicide, 
and  finds  itself  in  hell  because  it  would  not  open  its  eyes, 
and  take  the  road  to  heaven. 

It  has  been  supposed,  I  may  notice,  by  many  eminent 
thinkers,  that  the  whole  picture  of  Adam  in  Paradise  is  not 
an  historical  fact  intended  to  illustrate  a  spiritual  truth,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  that  the  spiritual  truth  existed,  and  that 
Adam  and  Eve  and  Paradise  are  only  the  copies;  —  in 
other  words,  that  Christ  and  his  church  are  the  originals, 
and  that  Adam  and  Eve  are  the  mere  copies,  and  that  they 


THE   FIRST    MAN,   ADAM,   AND    THfi   LAST.  83 

were  appointed  as  types  and  symbols  of  that  which  was 
to  be. 

Now,  let  us  consider  this :  — We  are  all  the  children  of 
Adam.  We  need  not  waste  time  in  confessing  the  justice 
or  the  injustice  of  the  fact,  that  he  sinned  and  that  we  suffer. 
Our  personal  sins  aggravate  that  suffering,  and  our  hearts 
condemn  us,  and  God  is  greater  than  our  hearts,  and 
knoweth  all  things.  We  feel  that  we  are  born  in  an  abnor- 
mal state  of  things.  God  never  made  the  world  as  it  is, 
and  he  never  made  man  as  he  is.  Something  has  hap- 
pened, some  great  catastrophe  has  smitten  all,  some  dread 
eclipse  has  swept  over  all.  We  are  not  now  as  we  origi- 
nally were.  The  Bible  explains  the  secret  of  it.  It  tells 
us  that  by  one  man's  disobedience  many  were  constituted 
sinners.  (Rom.  v.  19.)  It  tells  us  that  in  Adam  all  die. 
(1  Cor.  XV.  22.)  It  tells  us  there  is  none  righteous,  no  not 
one.  (Rom.  iii.  10.) 

And,  in  the  second  place,  we  learn  that  we  cannot  retrieve 
our  ruin.  That  gap  must  be  gigantic  that  the  vast  genius 
of  man  cannot  span.  Man  can  transmit  his  thoughts  upon 
the  lightning's  wings ;  he  can  span  firths  of  the  sea ;  he  can 
cross  broad  and  deep  rivers ;  he  can  raise  monuments  of  his 
genius  that  shall  sparkle  in  the  first  rays  of  the  rising,  and 
reflect  the  last  beams  of  the  setting,  sun.  But  man  cannot 
cross  the  distance  that  separates  him  from  God.  Here  we 
are  without  strength ;  here  we  are  emphatically  weak.  And 
we  need  therefore  to  feel,  not  only  that  we  are  sinners,  but 
that  we  have  not  in  ourselves  the  force  to  alter  our  relation 
to  God,  and  to  reconstitute  ourselves  in  that  relationship 
which  we  have  justly  forfeited. 

It  is  then  to  man  thus  helpless  that  the  good  news  came, 
"  In  him  we  have  redemption  through  his  blood,  even  the 
forgiveness  of  sins."  (Eph.  i.  7;  Col.  i.  14.)  "As  in 
Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive." 


84  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

(1  Cor.  XV.  22.)  "As  by  one  man's  disobedience  many 
were  constituted  sinners,  so  by  the  obedience  of  one  shall 
many"  —  the  vast  multitude  —  "be  constituted  righteous." 
(Rom.  V.  19.)  His  righteousness  is  our  title;  his  blood  is 
our  atonement.  And  "  to  him  that  overcometh,"  he  says, 
"  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the  tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  midst 
of  the  paradise  of  God."  (Rev.  ii.  7.)  In  other  words, 
Christ  is  the  way  back  to  heaven,  and  by  and  through  him 
we  have  reaccess  to  our  lost  inheritance,  a  new  and  lasting 
title  to  the  true  and  irreversible  rest  that  remaineth  to  the 
people  of  God. 

If,  then,  we  are  thus  convinced  that,  whether  we  like  it  or 
not,  we  are  involved  in  the  first  Adam's  ruin,  how  blessed  to 
us  should  the  good  tidings  be  that  we  are  welcome,  infinitely 
welcome,  to  share  in  the  second  Adam's  restoration !  The 
first  we  cannot  help :  it  has  come  upon  us  without  our  think- 
ing, without  our  responsibility,  if  I  may  so  speak :  but  the 
second  we  may  reject  or  we  may  accept.  We  may  say, 
"  We  will  not  have  this  man  to  rule  over  us ; "  or  we  may 
say,  " Lord,  to  whom  can  we  come  but  unto  thee?  thou"— 
the  second  Adam — "hast  the  words  of  eternal  life." 

May  He  move  our  hearts  by  his  Spirit,  to  embrace  his 
blessed  gospel,  and  thus  to  save  our  souls,  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen. 


CHAPTER  V. 


THE    CURSE. 

"  Her  rash  hand  in  evil  hour 
Forth  reaching  to  the  fruit,  she  plucked,  slie  ate ; 
Earth  felt  the  wound,  and  Nature  from  her  seat 
Sighing,  through  all  her  works  gave  signs  of  woe, 
That  all  was  lost." 

'*  And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent,  Because  thou  hast  done  this, 
thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of  the  field : 
upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of 
thy  life :  and  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and 
between  thy  seed  and  her  seed :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  thou 
shalt  bruise  his  heel.  Unto  the  woman  he  said,  I  will  gi-eatly  multiply 
thy  sorrow  and  thy  conception;  in  sorrow  thou  shalt  bring  forth  chil- 
dren :  and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over 
thee.  And  unto  Adam  he  said,  Because  thou  hast  hearkened  unto 
the  voice  of  thy  wife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree  of  which  I  com- 
manded thee,  saying.  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it ;  cursed  is  the  ground 
for  thy  sake:  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life: 
thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and  thou  shalt  eat 
the  herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread, 
till  thou  return  unto  the  ground :  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :  for 
dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return.  And  Adam  called  his 
wife's  name  Eve;  because  she  was  the  mother  of  all  living.  Unto 
Adam,  and  to  his  wife,  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins,  and 
clothed  them.  And  the  Lord  God  said.  Behold,  the  man  is  become 
as  one  of  us,  to  knoAV  good  and  evil :  and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  bis 
hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for  ever :  there- 
fore the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  tillthe 
ground  from  whence  he  was  taken.  So  he  drove  out  the  man :  and  he 
placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  cherubims,  and  a  flaming 
sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  life."  — 
Gen.  iii.  14-24. 

I  HAVE  selected  the  sentence  denounced  on  the  human 
family,  and  on  all  associated  with  them,  as  the  subject  of 
8 


86  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

th^ present  chapter.  The  curse  itself  that  is  here  executed, 
was  threatened  in  Genesis  ii.  16.  "And  the  Lord  God 
commanded  the  man,  saying,  Of  every  tree  of  the  garden 
thou  mayest  freely  eat :  but  of  the  tree  of  the  knowledge 
of  good  and  evil,  thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it :  for  in  the  day 
that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die."  We  have, 
in  Genesis  iii.  14-24,  the  execution  of  the  penalty  that  had 
been  previously  threatened,  in  all  its  length  and  breadth, 
upon  man,  and  all  connected  with  man. 

I  stated  in  a  previous  chapter,  that  geologists  have  dis- 
covered the  traces,  the  havoc,  and  all  the  apparatus  of  death 
long  prior  to  the  fall  of  man.  I  do  not  think  it  possible  to 
resist  the  proofs,  that  men  of  mature,  and  patient,  and  Chris- 
tian minds  have  adduced,  to  show  that  there  was  such  havoc 
as  they  describe,  it  may  be  thousands,  it  may  be  tens  of 
thousands,  of  years  prior  to  the  configuration  of  the  globe 
in  its  present  state,  the  creation  of  Adam,  and  the  work 
recorded  to  have  taken  place  during  the  six  days  of  the 
first  week.  To  explain  this  three  theories  are  proposed. 
These  are  given  by  Dr.  Hitchcock,  the  American  clergy- 
man to  whom  I  have  before  referred.  I  quote  the  work, 
though  here  I  am  constrained  to  differ  from  him.  We 
must,  in  reading  a  book,  refuse  what  we  cannot  agree  with, 
and  accept  what  the  author  proves  to  be  true.  He  gives 
three  theories  explanatory  of  this  great  change  which  has 
been  introduced,  and  he  adopts  the  last  himself.  "The 
first  theory,"  he  says,  "proceeds  on  the  supposition  that 
death  is  a  universal  law  of  organic  nature,  from  which  man 
was  exempted  so  long  as  he  obeyed  the  law  of  God."  Dr. 
Pye  Smith,  recently  deceased,  a  very  eminent  scientific 
scholar,  as  well  as  Christian  man,  belonging  to  the  Inde- 
pendent body,  held  this  tlieory ;  and  he  thought  that  man 
was  created  mortal,  and  tending  to  die,  but  that  if  he  had 
continued  in  his  allegiance  to  God,  he  would  not  have  died. 


THE    CURSE.  87 

Death,  he  thought,  was  a  universal  law  of  organic  natuiie ; 
that  the  tendency  of  man  was  to  die,  but  that  God  would 
have  repressed  that  tendency,  so  long  as  Adam  retained  his 
allegiance  to  him. 

The  second  theory  which  he  quotes,  is  that  espoused  by 
the  celebrated  Jeremy  or  Bishop  Taylor.  "The  second 
theory,"  says  Dr.  Hitchcock,  "  which  will  reconcile  science 
and  revelation  on  the  subject  of  death,  is  one  long  since 
illustrated  by  Jeremy  Taylor.  And  since  he  could  have 
had  no  reference  to  geology  in  proposing  it,  because  geology 
did  not  exist  in  his  day,  we  may  be  sure,  either  that  he 
learnt  it  from  the  Bible,  or  that  other  branches  of  knowl- 
edge teach  the  existence  of  death  as  a  general  law  of 
nature,  as  well  as  geology. 

"  *  That  death,  therefore,'  says  Taylor,  *  which  God 
threatened  to  Adam,  and  which  passed  upon  his  j^osterity, 
is  not  the  going  out  of  this  world,  but  the  manner  of  going. 
If  he  had  stayed  in  innocence,  he  should  have  gone  placidly 
and  fairly,  without  vexations  and  afflictive  circumstances ; 
he  should  not  have  died  by  sickness,  defect,  misfortune,  or 
unwillingness.  But  when  he  fell,  then  he  began  to  die ; 
the  same  day,  (God  said,)  and  that  must  needs  be  true; 
and,  therefore,  it  must  mean  upon  that  very  day  he  fell  into 
an  evil  and  dangerous  condition,  a  state  of  change  and 
affliction,  then  death  began ;  that  is,  man  began  to  die  by  a 
natural  diminution,  and  aptness  to  disease  and  misery. 
Change  or  separation  of  soul  and  body  is  but  accidental  to 
death ;  death  may  be  with  or  without  either ;  but  the 
formality,  the  curse,  and  the  sting  —  that  is,  misery,  sorrow, 
fear,  diminution,  defect,  anguish,  dishonor,  and  whatsoever 
is  niiserable  and  afflictive  in  nature  —  that  is  death.  Death 
is  not  an  action,  but  a  whole  state  and  condition ;  and 
this  was  first  brought  in  upon  us  by  the  offence  of  one 
man.' " 


88  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

The  third  theory,  and  that  adopted  by  Dr.  Hitchcock,  is, 
that  death  is  the  universal  law.  "  The  third  theory  respect- 
ing death,"  says  he,  "  takes  a  more  comprehensive  view  of 
the  subject,  and  traces  its  origin  to  the  Divine  plan  of  the 
creation. 

"  In  creating  this  world,  God  did  not  act  without  a  plan 
previously  determined  upon  in  all  its  details.  Of  course, 
man's  character  and  condition  formed  prominent  items  in 
that  plan."  And  then  he  goes  on  to  show  what  he  believes ; 
that  man  was  meant  originally  to  die ;  that  if  he  had 
continued  in  his  innocence,  he  would  have  died ;  that  all 
the  brute  creation  was  also  meant  to  die  ;  and  that  if  Adam 
had  stood  in  his  allegiance  to  God,  Adam  and  Eve  would 
have  died,  but,  he  says,  softly  and  quietly,  without  violence, 
and  merely  in  a  sort  of  transference,  almost  unconscious 
as  an  infant's  sleep,  till  he  should  awake  in  a  lovelier  and  a 
fairer  world. 

I  mustv  say,  that  on  weighing  these  theories,  and  giving 
them  the  most  patient  study  that  I  can,  I  do  not  like  any 
of  the  three.  I  like  the  old  popular  interpretation,  which 
holds  that  Adam  was  not  meant  to  die,  and  that  the  source 
of  his  death,  and  the  death  of  that  part  of  the  animal 
creation  created  during  the  six  days,  was  just  Adam's  sin. 
One  fallacy  that  pervades  these  theories  is,  the  assumption 
that  the  world  was  merely  meant  to  be  a  temporary  tent  for 
man  to  dwell  in,  and  that  transference  was  his  ultimate 
destiny.  But  I  think  that  this  world  was  meant  for  Adam's 
heaven  and  lasting  home.  God  could  not  have  been  nearer 
to  him,  seeing  that  he  walked  in  the  cool  of  the  evening  in 
the  garden,  and  conversed  and  held  communion  with  him. 
And  therefore  the  notion  of  transference  assumes  what  I 
cannot  grant.  And  if  man  was  meant  to  continue  always 
in  this  world,  if  this  world  had  remained  unfallen,  then 
there  was  no  necessity  for  death.     I  do  not  therefore  see 


THE    CURSF..  89 

that  this  theory  satisfies  the  scriptural  record,  or  gives  a 
conclusion  that  one  can  settle  down  in,  as  warranted  by,  and 
in  harmony  with,  all  the  passages  of  Scripture,  to  which  I 
will  briefly  allude,  and  which  seem  to  me  to  establish  the 
common  belief,  that  all  nature  fell  the  instant  that  Adam 
fell,  and  that  Milton's  Paradise  Lost,  whatever  be  its  defects 
in  other  respects,  gives  a  true  statement  of  the  Fall,  and  all 
its  issues. 

First  then,  in  speaking  of  the  sentence  of  death  inflicted 
upon  man  and  upon  the  brute  creation,  it  is  not  said  in  so 
many  words  that  death  was  inflicted  on  the  brute  creation 
in  consequence  of  Adam's  sin ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
this  conclusion  may  be  gathered  from  allusions  scattered 
throughout  the  book,  in  which  there  seems  implied  a  curse, 
and  that  curse  explained  by  death  lighting  upon  all  the 
animal  creation.  At  all  events,  the  curse  pronounced  upon 
the  serpent  seems  to  involve  a  curse  pronounced  upon  all 
the  brute  creation  previous ;  it  is  said,  "  Thou  art  cursed 
above  all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of  the  field." 
Surely,  if  the  serpent  had  an  aggravated  and  added  curse, 
it  implies  that  the  other  animals  were ,  partakers  of  the 
ordinary  curse,  and  that  therefore  the  whole  animal  creation 
came  under  God's  curse  at  this  crisis  ;  what  w^as  the  nature 
of  that  curse,  it  remains  for  us  to  explain  by  subsequent 
passages.  Finding  the  whole  animal  creation  coming  under 
the  curse,  and  the  serpent  only  under  an  aggravated  form 
of  that  curse,  we  try  to  ascertain  whether  this  curse  means 
death.  I  turn  to  some  passages  where  it  states  that  animals 
were  destroyed  on  account  of  man's  sin.  At  Genesis  vi.  7 
there  is  tjie  following  passage,  "  And  the  Lord  said,  I  will 
destroy  man  whom  I  have  created  from  the  face  of  the 
earth;  both  man,  and  beast,  and  the  creeping  thing,  and 
the  fowls  of  the  air."  The  beasts,  and  the  creeping  things, 
and  the  fowls  of  the  air  had  not  corrupted  their  way  during 
8* 


90  THE    CnURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

the  antediluvian  period ;  but  man  having  done  so,  we  have 
here  an  evidence  that  the  brute  creation  participated  in  the 
consequence  of  man's  sin ;  and  that  because  the  lord  of 
creation  sinned,  all  his  subjects  were  involved  in  his  ruin. 
So  in  Genesis  vii.  23,  "Every  living  substance  was  de- 
stroyed which  was  upon  the  face  of  the  ground,  both  man, 
and  cattle,  and  the  creeping  things,  and  the  fowl  of  heaven ; 
and  they  were  destroyed  from  the  earth."  And  again  in 
Genesis  viii.  21,  "And  the  Lord  smelled  a  sweet  savor; 
and  the  Lord  said  in  his  heart,  I  will  not  again  curse  the 
ground  any  more  for  man's  sake;  for  the  imagination  of 
man's  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth ;  neither  will  I  again 
smite  any  more  every  thing  living  as  I  have  done."  Now, 
we  find  in  all  these  cases  of  judgment  pronounced  upon 
man,  the  brute  creation  participating  in  it.  And  does  not 
this  seem  to  be  the  reoccurrence  on  a  smaller  scale  of  what 
had  occurred  on  a  larger  scale  ?  Does  it  not  seem  like  a 
repetition  in  special  cases  of  what  had  o'ccurred  in  the 
universal  case  ?  And  if  animals,  whenever  man  sinned,  are 
always  seen  to  be  involved  in  the  consequences  of  man's 
sin,  we  may  see  that  what  took  place  only  in  special  cases 
under  the  providence,  and  wisdom,  and  benevolence  of  God, 
was  only  the  unspent  echo  or  unfaded  image  of  what  had 
taken  place  on  a  larger  scale,  when  man  sinned,  and  all  the 
brute  creation  shared  in  his  ruin.  We  see  the  extent  of 
the  curse,  in  its  sweeping  the  ground  of  its  richest  beauty, 
depriving  the  air,  as  chemists  have  supposed,  of  some  of  its 
most  vital  and  precious  constituent  elements,  making  the 
earth,  which  once  burst  into  roses  when  Eve  looked  upon 
it,  now  bear  but  thistles,  and  briers,  and  thorns.  The  very 
fact  that  the  earth  thus  suffered  under  man's  sin  involves 
the  suffering  of  the  brutes  which  lived  upon  that  earth,  and 
were  dependent  upon  it  for  their  nutrition  and  their  food. 
And  when  we  turn  to  the  eighth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 


THE    CURSE.  91 

the  Romans,  we  find  the  Apostle  asserting  substantially  what 
>I  am  now  trying  to  prove.  "  For  the  earnest  expectation 
of  the  creature "  (creation)  "  waiteth  for  the  manifestation 
of  the  sons  of  God.  For  creation  was  made  subject  to 
vanity,  not  willingly,"  —  that  is,  it  was  not  of  its  own 
accord,  it  was  not  the  wish  or  act  of  the  dumb  brute 
creation,  —  "  but  by  reason  of  him  who  hath  subjected  the 
same  in  hope.  Because  creation  itself  also  shall  be  deliv- 
ered from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious 
liberty  of  the  children  of  God."  And  then  he  says,  "  For 
we  know  that  the  whole  creation,"  that  includes  the  dumb 
brute  creation,  "groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together 
until  now."  So  strongly  has  this  been  understood,  and 
so  universally,  to  relate  to  the  dumb  animals,  that  some 
persons  believe  that  brutes  will  be  raised  at  the  last  day. 
Of  course,  they  only  guess,  they  cannot  gather  this  from 
any  clear  passage  of  the  word  of  God.  And  then  he  adds, 
"And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  which  have  the 
first-fruits  of  the  Spirit,  even  we  ourselves  groan  within 
ourselves,  waiting  for  the  adoption,  to  wit,  the  redemption 
of  our  body." 

Now,  it  does  seem  to  me,  that  all  these  passages  prove 
that  the  brute  creation  became  participants  of  death, 
because  of  man's  primal  and  mother  sin.  But  now  the 
objection  comes  before  us,  how  do  you  explain  the  fact  that 
geologists  assert,  that  death  did  exist  prior  to  Adam  ?  The 
geologist  will  say,  you  assert  that  death  is  the  consequence 
of  sin ;  but  our  discoveries  in  the  subterranean  caves  of 
the  earth  show,  written  on  records  perfectly  intelligible, 
that  death  and  havoc  existed  in  the  animal  creation  long 
prior  to  the  introduction  of  Adam's  sin,  the  consequences 
and  issues  of  Adam's  fall. 

In  the  first  place,  I  observe  in  reply  to  this,  that  geology 
does  not  show  death  to  have  occurred  in  a  single  instance 


92  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

amongst  the  animals  created  during  the  first  six  days  of 
creation  as  existent  prior  to  Adam.  All  the  animals  that 
perished  in  those  enormous  masses  seem  to  have  belonged 
to  a  different  climate,  to  a  different  condition  of  the  globe, 
and  to  be  altogether  of  a  more  ancient  race  than  those  cre- 
ated during  the  six  days  before  the  crowning  act  of  man's 
creation. 

And  in  the  next  place,  geology  does  not  discover  in  the 
fossihferous  strata,  as  it  is  termed,  which  extends  six  or 
eight  miles  downward,  a  single  remain  of  man ;  it  is  in  the 
highest  alluvium  only  that  it  does  discover  his  bones :  and 
thus,  geology  proves  demonstrably  that  man  must  have 
been  created  last ;  and  the  animals  created  during  the  six 
days  found  immediately  below  him,  must  have  been  created 
just  before  him. 

"What  is  the  amount  of  the  discoveries  of  geology  ?  It  is 
this,  that  death  took  place  among  animal  races  thai  existed 
long  prior  to  the  creation  of  man.  And  among  these  races 
they  discover,  what  I  think  we  cannot  deny,  that  not  only 
did  animals  die  prior  to  the  creation  of  man,  but  that  they 
also  devoured  each  other ;  because  fossil  remains  have  been 
found  with  one  animal  inclosed  in  the  body  of  another,  one 
crushed  in  the  teeth  of  another.  Thus  the  destruction  of 
many  of  the  monsters  that  have  been  excavated  from  the 
depths  of  the  earth,  prove  that  death  and  havoc  had  raged 
together  long  prior  to  the  present  configuration  of  our  globe, 
and  therefore  long  prior  to  the  sentence  pronounced  upon 
Adam,  "  Thou  shalt  surely  die." 

Still,  after  all  this,  I  stand  by  the  proposition  in  the  w^ord 
of  God,  that  death  is  the  consequence  of  sin.  And  to  show 
how  strongly  this  proposition  is  asserted,  I  turn  to  Romans 
V.  12,  where  the  Apostle  says,  in  language  that  cannot  be 
mistaken,  "  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and 
death  by  sin ;  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all 


THE    CURSE.  93 

have  sinned."  If  we  turn  to  1  Corinthians  xv.  22,  we  shall 
find  these  expressions :  "  As  in  Adam  all  die,"  —  that  plainly 
is  the  death  of  the  body,  since  he  is  speaking  of  its  resur- 
rection, —  "  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive."  In 
the  twenty-sixth  verse,  "  The  last  enemy  that  shall  be 
destroyed  is  death,"  that  is,  the  death  of  the  body.  Then 
the  fifty-fourth  verse,  "When  this  corruptible  shall  have 
put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on 
immortality,  then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the  saying  that 
is  written,"  that  is,  at  the  last  day,  "  Death  "  —  he  is  speak- 
ing of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  and  therefore  he  means 
physical  death  —  "  is  swallowed  up  in  victory."  I  appeal 
to  every  honest  reader  of  the  Bible,  if  his  very  first  impres- 
sion has  not  been  that  death  is  the  wages  of  sin. 

Since  we  discover  the  great  fact,  that  death  is  the  effect 
of  sin,  and  secondly,  the  other  fact,  that  death  existed  before 
Adam's  sin  was  committed,  how  do  we  reconcile  the  latter 
discovery  with  revelation  ?  I  answer,  we  have  evidence  in 
the  word  of  God,  as  well  as  in  the  world  of  God,  that  sin 
existed  before  Adam's  sin.  We  read  of  angels  that  revolted 
against  God,  of  "  angels  which  kept  not  their  first  estate," 
and  are  now  plunged  into  everlasting  darkness.  We  thus 
discover  a  great  fact,  that  sin  existed  somewhere  prior  to 
the  creation  of  man.  Is  it  therefore  improbable  —  I  submit 
the  thought  for  study  —  is  it  improbable  that  this  earth  was 
the  habitation  of  angels  in  a  long  prior,  and,  it  may  be,  still 
more  glorious  state  ?  May  it  not  be  that  the  havoc  and 
disorganization  which  geologists  discover  as  occurrences  in 
distant  ages,  are  the  wrecks  of  an  angel  Paradise  existing 
long  prior  to  the  garden  of  Eden  and  the  creation  of  man  ? 
I  do  not  say  that  it  is  so.  I  throw  out  the  conjecture  for 
study.  It  is  not  written,  it  is  merely  guessed.  Angels  fell, 
and  they  committed  sin,  a  greater  sin  than  Adam  and  Eve. 
Who  knows  the  height  and  depth  and  extent  to  which  this 


94  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

sin  of  theirs  may  have  gone  ^  Who  knows  what  havoc  it 
may  have  brought  upon  creation  all  around  them,  how  high 
toward  heaven  it  may  have  reached,  how  deep  toward 
earth's  centre  it  may  have  shot?  Who  knows  but  that 
those  subterranean  traces  of  ruin,  of  disorganization,  and 
of  death,  may  not  be  the  issues  of  angels'  sin  long  prior 
to  Adam's  creation,  and  that  the  havoc  and  death  that  we 
see  now  is  only  the  transference,  not  the  first  application, 
of  a  sentence,  executed  millions  of  years  before,  to  a  new 
dynasty  introduced  in  new  circumstances,  and  of  which 
Adam  was  the  federal  head,  who  sinned  and  brought  upon 
his  race  what  angels  brought  upon  theirs,  —  death,  with  all 
its  misery,  and  all  its  woe.  If  this  be  the  case,  then  the 
sentence  of  death  pronounced  upon  Adam  was  not  the  crea- 
tion of  a  new  law,  but  the  application  of  an  old  one ;  it  was 
not  the  occurrence  of  a  first  fact,  but  the  repetition  of  a  long 
prior  existent  fact. 

This,  too,  would  explain  how  Adam  and  Eve  should 
know  what  w^as  meant  by  dying  before  they  had  sinned, 
and  how  they  should  know  what  evil  was  when  they  were 
only  personally  conscious  of  good.  We  may  therefore  con- 
clude that  the  sentence,  "  In  the  day  thou  sinnest  thou  shalt 
die,"  was  not  the  creation  of  a  new  penalty  that  never  had 
been  attached  to  sin  before,  but  that  it  w^as  only  the  decla- 
ration of  an  old  one ;  and  that  it  was  not  the  occurrence  of 
a  new  fact  that  never  had  transpired  in  the  history  of  the 
universe  before,  but  the  repetition  of  a  fact  that  had  pre- 
viously occurred  in  the  case  of  angels.  Jude  speaks  of 
"  the  angels  -which  kept  not  their  first  estate,"  —  (rtjv  iavtoiv 
OiQxnv,)  "their  first  state  of  dignity."  Where  was  their 
first  state  ?  We  are  not  told,  but  it  seems  probable  that  it 
was  on  this  globe  in  its  first  existence ;  and  so  it  seems  that 
what  geologists  have  discovered  as  the  traces  of  ancient 
ruin  were  introduced  by  the  previous  tenantry,  and  that  we 


THE    CURSE.  ^  9i 

entered  on  a  refurnished,  not  a  new  house.  And  thus  this 
Scripture  is  illustrated  in  the  subterranean  caves  and  sepul- 
chral depths  of  the  earth,  as  in  every  home  and  churchyard 
of  our  present  economy  —  "  The  wages  of  sin  is  death,"  and 
therefore  that  death  had  not  been,  if  sin  had  not  been  pre- 
viously committed.  So  much  then  for  the  attempt  to  recon- 
cile what  seems  at  first  sight  to  be  irreconcilable. 

But  there  is  another  difficulty.  Physiologists  and  anato- 
mists say.  Why  then  do  we  not  find  animals  now  as  when 
they  were  first  created  ?  For  instance,  if  we  see  a  lion,  we 
can  at  once  perceive  from  his  peculiar  teeth,  and  visceral 
organization,  that  he  is  made  to  tear,  to  devour,  and  to  live 
upon  animal  food.  And  any  man  can  see,  from  the  visceral 
organization  of  an  ox,  that  he  is  meant  to  feed  upon  grass. 
And  man  is  so  constructed,  that  it  is  plain  from  a  study  of 
his  visceral  organization,  that  he  is  meant  to  live  upon 
animal  food,  or  vegetable  food,  or  both  together.  Then  the 
question  is  asked.  If  death  were  introduced  by  sin,  how 
does  it  happen  that  animals  were  constructed  as  we  now 
find  them  ?  If  not  originally  so  made,  how  do  you  explain 
the  change  ?  Do  you  think  the  naturalists  will  believe  that 
after  man  sinned  carnivorous  teeth  came  where  grami- 
nivorous teeth  were  before,  or  that  the  whole  visceral 
organization  of  the  brute  creation  was  radically  altered? 
I  believe  that  the  lion  and  tiger  were  created,  just  as  we 
find  them,  as  far  as  relates  to  their  physical  organization ; 
but  I  believe  that  they  were  so  made  because  of  God's  sure 
and  certain  anticipation  of  what  would  occur  —  the  sin  of 
man,  the  fall  of  the  world,  and  the  necessity  of  creatures 
being  adapted  to  a  world  altered  because  a  world  fallen. 
He  made  them,  in  anticipation  of  that,  just  as  we  now  find 
them.  We  cannot  say  how  long  Adam  retained  his  inno- 
cence. We  cannot  say  what  opportunity  was  given  for  the 
exhibition  of  these  animals'  propensities.     But  we  know 


96  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

that  a  great  deal  of  God's  existing  constitution  of  the  world 
is  anticipatory.  The  atonement,  for  instance,  was  a  primal 
fact ;  it  was  not  an  after  devised  remedy  for  an  untoward 
and  unexpected  disease,  but  it  was  set  forth  and  arranged 
and  spoken  from  the  depths  of  eternity.  I  cannot  explain 
why  sin  was  permitted,  or  why  man  should  be  responsible, 
since  the  atonement,  and  of  necessity  the  fall,  were  to  be ; 
nor  can  I  explain  many  other  things  in  God's  creation. 
But  I  think  it  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  many  other 
analogies  that  God  should  have  made  carnivorous  animals 
by  an  anticipative  fiat,  where  he  foresaw  there  would 
inevitably  be  death  and  ruin.  That  all  would  have  been 
peace  if  sin  had  not  intruded,  our  Lord's  miracles  seem  to 
me  to  prove.  They  show  what  creation  was  before  man 
fell,  and  what  it  would  have  continued  if  man  had  never 
fallen,  by  giving  instalments  of  what  it  will  be  when  the 
regenesis  comes,  and  all  things  are  rectified  and  restored 
again.  His  miracles  were  not  merely  feats  of  power, 
but  they  were  essentially  redemptive.  When  he  healed 
the  sick,* when  he  opened  the  eyes  of  the  blind, ,  and 
restored  hearing  to  the  deaf;  when  he  expelled  the  demons, 
when  he  raised  the  dead,  when  he  restored  broken  relation- 
ships —  in  all  these  facts  he  not  only  showed  power,  but  he 
showed  also  that  the  hand  of  the  great  restorer  was  touch 
ing  creation's  jarring  strings,  bringing  them  back  to  their 
ancient  and  primeval  harmony,  thereby  showing  to  man 
what  nature  once  was,  and  what  nature  shall  again  be,  when 
he  shall  come,  as  he  promised,  and  restore  all  things. 

I  gather  in  the  word  of  God  these  indications  or  proofs 
of  what  I  have  now  stated,  and  I  see  no  reason  arising 
from  geological  discoveries,  for  departing  from  the  old 
conviction,  so  universally  cherished,  and,  I  think,  so  justly, 
that  death  is  the  fruit  of  sin,  and  that  wherever  death's 
foot  print  is,  there  sin's  stain  has  previously  been. 


THE    CURSE.  97 

No  one  looking  at  man  as  lie  now  is,  would  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  he  was  made  just  as  we  find  him.  We 
cannot  believe  that  man  was  made  originally  to  die ;  there 
is  nothing  in  the  constitution  of  his  body  to  indicate  this  as 
a  primal  law.  On  the  other  hand,  medical  men  and  physi- 
ologists have  said,  that  if  a  stranger  could  come  from 
another  orb  and  examine  the  human  body  in  full  life,  he 
would  pronounce  it  a  perpetual  motion ;  that  its  machinery 
must  go  on  for  ever.  There  is  no  ultimate  physical  reason 
in  the  world,  why,  when  man  comes  to  fifty  or  sixty  years 
of  age,  the  crows'  feet,  as  they  are  called,  should  appear  at 
each  eye,  and  whiteness  glisten  from  his  hair,  and  infirmity, 
weakness,  feebleness,  decay,  seize  every  limb.  Such  a 
change  is  explicable  on  other  grounds  than  physical  organi- 
zation; it  is  only  explained  by  the  judicial  sentence,  "In 
the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die." 

It  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that  facts  lead  to  the 
presumption  that  after  the  Fall  man  did  not  die  so  soon 
as  we  do ;  for  we  shall  read  that  the  patriarchs  lived,  some 
seven  hundred,  some  nine  hundred,  and  some  even  a 
thousand  years.  It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the  sentence 
of  death  took  effect  by  degrees,  and  after  the  flood  only  do 
we  find  man's  life  shortened  to  a  period  approaching  its 
present  length,  the  last  time  that  it  was  shortened ;  when 
the  duration  of  human  life  was  reduced  to  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years.  Such,  I  believe,  is  the  natural  period  of 
human  life.  There  is  no  fiat  of  God  shortening  human  life 
since  that ;  and  there  is  no  passage  in  the  word  of  God  that 
will  warrant  the  conclusion  that  the  liijiit  of  man's  natural 
life  should  be  seventy  years  of  age."  I  know  that  some 
persons  will  ask.  Have  you  not  read  the  90th  Psalm,  "  The 
days  of  our  years  are  threescore  years  and  ten ;  and  if  by 
reason  of  strength  they  be  fourscore  years,  yet  is  their 
strength  labor   and   sorrow?"      But   recollect   when   that 

9 


98  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Psalm  was  written,  and  by  whom.  In  the  first  place,  it 
was  written  by  a  man  who  lived  to  a  hundred  and  twenty, 
and  therefore  this  could  not  describe  himself.  And  in  the 
next  place  it  proves,  not  confutes,  my  position ;  for  Moses 
says,  "  Instead  of  our  years,  in  this  wilderness  condition, 
being  what  they  have  been,  they  are  reduced  to  threescore 
years  and  ten,  and  if  we  should  stand  the  wear  and  tear 
of  this  condition  and  reach  eighty,  we  find  it  labor  and 
sorrow."  This  is  a  complaint  that  their  years  were  -so  few, 
and  that  complaint  embosoms  the  conclusion  that  properly 
and  in  better  circumstances  they  were  much  longer.  And 
as  Moses,  who  wrote  that  Psalm,  lived  to  a  hundred  and 
twenty  years,  I  am  still  of  opinion  that  if  men  were  more 
temperate,  and  more  attentive  to  sanitary  laws,  humanly 
speaking,  a  hundred  and  twenty  would  be  their  present  age. 
If  men  were  more  temperate,  more  attentive  to  their 
sanitary  condition,  if  they  would  believe  that  their  air  is 
of  more  importance  than  their  food,  and  that  temperance 
and  moderation  are  the  obligations  that  Christianity  pre- 
scribes and  prudence  and  experience  suggest,  they  would 
live  to  a  greater  age,  in  all  probability,  than  they  do  now. 
Much,  however,  of  the  shortness  of  life  is  just  in  conse- 
quence  of  the  sin  of  man,  and  it  is  only  the  rebound  of  the 
ancient  sentence,  "In  the  day  thou  eatest  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die."  In  proportion  as  Christianity  attains  its 
ascendency  in  the  heart  of  man,  and  its  influence  over  all 
the  habits  of  man ;  in  proportion  as  the  precepts  of  Apostles 
are  transferred  to  the  practice  of  daily  life,  man  in  some 
degree  overcomes  the  state  into  which  the  primal  sin 
has  plunged  him,  and  approximates  to  that  glorious  and 
ultimate  state  in  which,  when  Christ  shall  come  and  restore 
lost  paradise  to  rejoicing  man,  all  things  shall  be. 

I  cannot  in  this  address  enter  upon  the  moral  effects  of 
man's  sin.     I  will  reserve  that,  with  the  great  remedy,  for 


THE    CURSE.  99 

my  next.  Let  us  learn,  then,  to  look  upon  sin  as  essential 
evil ;  let  us  explain  the  sad  and  sorrowful  experience  of 
man,  not  by  blaming  God,  but  by  blaming  ourselves. 
Whence  sin  came,  why  sin  was  permitted,  I  cannot  explain. 
All  I  gather  from  the  Bible  is,  that  nowdiere  is  it  said  that 
God  made  it.  He  made  the  sky,  the  sea,  and  he  made  the 
dry  land ;  he  made  the  hills,  and  the  great  deeps ;  he  made 
the  leviathan  of  Job,  tlip  crocodile  of  the  Nile,  the  insect 
that  flutters  in  the  sunbeam,  and  the  ephemera  that  dies  in 
a  day ;  but  I  do  not  find  that  he  made  sin.  And  whatever 
sin  has  done  is  not  God's  doing ;  and  wherever  its  responsi- 
bility lies,  it  rests  not  with  him.  O  glorious  grace,  then,  O 
transcendent  love,  that  when  man  had  committed  suicide, 
God,  who  had  no  hand  in  the  suicide,  has  mercifully  inter- 
posed himself,  and  his  hand  alone  has  provided,  out  of  our 
death,  life ;  out  of  our  ruin,  restoration ;  through  the  pre- 
cious blood  and  the  glorious  sacrifice  of  Him  who  is  the 
way,  the  truth,  and,  what  poor  Eve  only  was  in  type,  the 
life,  and  the  source  of  all  living. 


CHAPTER    V.l. 


REDEMPTION. 

"  Eedemption !  't  was  creation  made  sublime. 
Redemption!  't  was  the  labolf  of  tlie  skies: 
Far  more  than  labor,  it  was  death  in  heaven. 
A  truth  so  strange,  't  were  bold  to  think  it  true 
If  not  far  bolder  still  to  disbeUeve." 

*^  And  the  Lord  God  said  unto  the  serpent,  Because  thou  hast  done  this, 
thou  art  cursed  above  all  cattle,  and  above  every  beast  of  the  field : 
upon  thy  belly  shalt  thou  go,  and  dust  shalt  thou  eat  all  the  days  of 
thy  life :  and  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman,  and 
between  thy  seed  and  her  seed :  it  shall  bruise  thy  head,  and  tliou 
shalt  bruise  his  heel.  Unto  the  woman  he  said,  I  will  gi'eatly  multiply 
thy  sorrow  and  thy  conception ;  in  sorrow  thou  shalt  bring  forth  chil- 
dren :  and  thy  desire  shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over 
thee.  And  unto  Adam  he  said.  Because  thou  hast  hearkened  unto 
the  voice  of  thy  Avife,  and  hast  eaten  of  the  tree  of  which'  I  com- 
manded thee,  saying.  Thou  shalt  not  eat  of  it;  cursed  is  the  ground 
for  thy  sake:  in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life: 
thorns  also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and  thou  shalt  eat 
the  herb  of  the  field.  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread, 
till  thou  return  unto  the  ground :  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :  for 
dust  thou  art^  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  retm*n.  And  Adam  called  his 
wife^s  name  Eve;  because  she  was  the  mother  of  all  living.  Unto 
Adam,  and  to  his  wife,  did  the  Lord  God  make  coats  of  skins,  and 
clothed  them.  And  the  Lord  God  said,  Behold,  the  man  is  become 
as  one  of  us,  to  know  good  and  evil :  and  now,  lest  he  put  forth  his 
hand,  and  take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  eat,  and  live  for  ever:  there- 
fore the  Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden,  to  till  the 
ground  from  whence  he  Avas  taken.  So  he  drove  out  the  man :  and  he 
placed  at  the  east  of  the  garden  of  Eden  chcrubims,  and  a  flaming 
sword  which  turned  every  way,  to  keep  the  way  of  the  tree  of  hfe."  — 
Gen.  iii.  14-24. 

In  the  former  chapter  I  stated  that  we  have  here  the 
record  of  the  curse  pronounced  in  the  case  of  disobedience 


REDEMPTION.  101 

actually  executed  upon  the  offending  and  guilty  pair.  I 
endeavored  to  show  to  what  extent  the  sweep  of  that  curse 
has  ranged,  and  in  what  respects  its  operation  is  actual  now 
among  us.  I  statecj  my  belief  that  death,  whether  in  the 
material  body  of  man,  or  in  the  animal  creation,  is  the 
result  of  sin.  I  tried  to  meet  the  difficulty  which  geologists 
have  brought  forward,  that  death  has  been  discovered  prior 
to  the  last  configuration  of  this  world,  or  the  work  of  the 
six  days,  and  the  creation  of  man;  and  therefore,  they 
argue,  death  cannot  be  the  result  of  sin.  I  showed  that, 
whether  it  can  be  proved  or  not  that  death,  as  existent  prior 
to  the  creation  of  man,  w^as  the  result  of  his  sin,  we  can 
prove  that  sin  existed  long  before  the  six  days'  work  and 
the  creation  of  man ;  for  Jude  tells  us,  what  other  portions 
of  Scripture  confirm,  that  angels  first  introduced  sin  by 
breaking  their  allegiance  to  God.  Thus  the  wreck  and 
ruin  traced  by  geology  in  the  subterranean  chambers  of  the 
earth,  confessedly  thousands  of  years  older  than  the  Mosaic 
record,  may  be  the  fruits  and  the  effects  of  that  great  first 
sin  introduced  by  the  fallen  angels  into  the  universe  long 
before  Adam  and  Eve  were  created.  But,  whether  this  be 
true  or  not,  the  fact  that  animals  now  die,  I  showed,  was  in 
consequence  of  man's  sin.  I  quoted  instances  where  the 
sin  of  man  is  stated  by  the  historical  record  to  have  been 
visited  on  the  brute  creation ;  and  I  showed  clear  and  une- 
quivocal testimonies  of  Scripture,  that  man's  death  —  the 
death  of  his  body  —  is  the  result  of  man's  sin.  "As  in 
Adam,"  says  the  Apostle,  "  all  die,"  —  he  is  speaking  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  —  "  even  so  in  Christ  shall  all  be 
made  alive ; "  that  is,  all  —  good  and  bad  —  shall  be  raised 
at  the  last  day.  We  have,  therefore,  clear  proof,  I  think, 
that  wherever  death  is,  whether  in  the  chambers  that 
geology  has  excavated,  or  on  the  platform  of  the  world 
which  we  now  see,  wherever  it  is,  that  it  is  the  fruit  of  sin. 
9* 


102  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

And,  therefore,  I  do  not  believe  that  man  or  the  brute  crea- 
tion was  meant  to  die.  It  is  very  well  to  say.  How  could 
the  world  contain  them  ?  it  is  easy  to  raise  a  thousand  diffi- 
culties :  it  is  still  the  plain  fact,  that  seems  to  run  through 
the  Scriptures,  that  death  is  the  fruit  of  sin.  And  there- 
fore, when  God  said,  "  In  the  day  thou  eat  est  thereof  thou 
shalt  surely  die,"  it  was  not  the  creation  of  a  new  penalty, 
but  the  application  of  a  penalty  thjlt  had  been  applied  long, 
long,  long  before. 

There  are  also  other  fruits  of  sin ;  "^i  will  greatly  multi- 
ply thy  sorrow  and  thy  conception ;  in  sorrow  thou  shalt 
bring  forth  children."  I  need  not  comment  upon  these 
w^ords.  It  has  its  echo  in  the  experience  of  suffering  wo- 
maphood.  Every  mother  is  my  witness.  "And  thy  desire 
shall  be  to  thy  husband,  and  he  shall  rule  over  thee."  Just 
where  Christianity  is  unknown,  there  the  lordship  of  the 
husband  hardens  into  tyranny;  and  only  in  proportion  as 
restorative  religion,  that  is,  Christianity,  is  felt,  there  the 
lordship  of  the  husband  softens  into  love.  I  do  not  think 
we  can  have  a  stronger  proof  of  the  fulfilment  of  this  curse 
than  in  China,  in  Hindostan,  in  Turkey.  We  cannot  have 
a  clearer  evidence  that  the  curse  has  been  so  far  averted  or 
reversed  in  Christian  countries,  where  woman  is  raised  to 
her  proper  platform,  and  made  the  companion,  the  friend, 
and  the  help  meet  for  man,  not  his  drudge,  his  servant,  or 
his  plaything. 

It  is  also  added,  that  "the  ground  is  cursed  for  thy  sake; 
in  sorrow  shalt  thou  eat  of  it  all  the  days  of  thy  life ;  thorns 
also  and  thistles  shall  it  bring  forth  to  thee ;  and  thou  shalt 
eat  the  herb  of  the  field ;  in  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt 
thou  eat  bread."  Who  does  not  feel  this  ?  This  sorrow  and 
sweat  of  face  is  not  peculiar  to  the  agricultural  interest ;  it 
is  as  distinctive  of  the  commercial  interest.  If  the  farmer 
must  water  the  earth  with  his  tears,  and  fertilize  its  blasted 


KEDEMPTION.  103 

soil  with  the  sweat  of  his  brow ;  the  merchantman,  the 
tradesman,  has  to  undergo  the  same  fatigue,  and  to  feel  the 
same  exhaustion,  only  in  another  sphere.  And  as  to  thos6 
who  are  called  the  ynproductive  portions  of  the  human  race, 
or  those  who  are  supposed  not  to  be  the  working  classes, 
that  is,  lawyers,  physicians,  and  clergymen,  and  such  like,  I 
suspect  they  feel  the  curse  as  truly  as  others.  I  believe 
myself  to  be  a  working  man,  only  I  use  the  brain  instead, 
of  the  hand ;  and  whether  the  pen  prepare  sermons,  or 
write  books,  or  run  up  ledgers,  there  is  the  same  attendant 
fatigue.  And  thus  the  great  law  is  felt  from  the  queen  upon 
the  throne  down  to  the  meanest  of  her  subjects ;  for  of  all 
aching  heads,  that  head  often  aches  most  that  wears  a  crown. 
As  Shakspeare  says, 

"  Uneasy  lies  the  head  that  wears  a  crown." 

"  In  the  sweat  of  thy  face  shalt  thou  eat  bread,  till  thou 
return  unto  the  ground ;  for  out  of  it  wast  thou  taken :  for 
dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt  thou  return." 

Let  us  now  briefly  allude  to  the  moral  part  of  the  curse,- 
but  especially  and  more  fully  to  the  grand  remedy ;  that 
which  was  preached  to  meet  it. 

It  is  said,  that  when  man  fell  their  eyes  were  opened. 
Of  course,  morally  and  physically  they  saw  before.  Mor- 
ally, they  saw  truth  in  all  its  beauty;  physically,  they 
beheld  Paradise  in  all  its  glory.  But  the  expression  that  is 
here  used,  "  The  eyes  of  them  both  were  opened,"  evidently 
means  that  they  saw  what  they  never  expected  to  see,  and 
felt  within  them  what  they  never  dreamt  of  feeling.  They 
saw  a  blot  descend  upon  the  earth,  barrenness  upon  all  the 
parts  that  were  most  productive ;  cold  and  storm,  disturb- 
ance, disorganization,  where  all  was  beauty,  harmony,  and 
peace  before.  And  they  felt,  I  have  not  the  least  doubt, 
within  them  a  new  and  disturbing  element,  which  they  could 


104  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

not  understand  —  that  sensation  which  we  know,  and  which 
we  have  all  felt,  called  remorse,  or  the  feeling  that  succeeds 
<!onscious  sin,  but  which  was  then  for  the  first  time  tasted 
by  Adam  and  Eve ;  sin  now  shot  like  fire  through  every 
vein,  and  rushed,  a  corroding  poison,  through  every  artery, 
till  their  once  bounding  hearts  were  breaking,  and  their 
happy  spirits,  oppressed  by  a  crushing  and  inexplicable 
sense  of  misery,  yearned  and  groaned  for  a  deliverer.  Is  it 
not,  however,  so  still  ?  While  sin  tempts  the  young  man  by 
its  fascinations,  his  eyes  are  open  to  its  beauty  and  its 
advantages,  but  closed  to  its  issues.  After  he  has  been  con- 
quered by  the  temptation,  and  has  yielded  to  the  sin,  then 
the  process  is  reversed ;  his  eyes  are  now  shut  to  its  charms, 
and  open  only  to  its  poison  and  its  hatefulness ;  and  what 
approached  him  in  the  most  fascinating  garb,  is  now  seen 
by  him  to  be  the  most  revolting  and  repulsive  serpent :  his 
eyes  are  opened  to  see  the  dissolving  charm  that  fascinated 
him  for  a  day,  merging  in  the  avenging  curse  that  lies  upon 
him  like  an  incubus,  till  it  be  forgiven  by  the  blood  of 
•Christ.  Here  still  is  Satan's  policy:  when  he  tempts  to 
sin,  the  eye  that  sees  peril  is  blinded,  and  the  eye  only  that 
sees  beauty  is  open ;  but  when  he  has  succeeded,  then  the 
eye  that  saw  the  beauty  is  closed,  and  the  eye  that  sees 
peril  is  opened :  all  was  presumption,  when  only  the  beauti- 
ful and  the  advantageous  were  seen ;  all  now  is  despair, 
when  nothing  but  the  deadly  and  the  destructive  are  seen. 
And  strange  it  is,  that  though  this  experiment  has  been 
made  upon  the  largest  scale,  yet  each  man  has  to  learn  it 
by  paying  the  price  of  it  in  his  own  bitter  experience.  He 
too  finds  that  his  eyes  have  been  shut  to  what  they  ought  to 
have  been  open,  and  have  been  open  to  what  they  ought  to 
have  been  shut;  and  only  by  the  painful  reaction  of  a 
remorse  that  corrodes,  or  of  a  repentance  that  comes  from 
the  Saviour,  does  he  learn  that  his  eyes  have  been  opened 


REDEMPTION.  105 

# 

to  see  a  good  that  has  vanished  from  his  grasp,  and  an  evil 
that  has  taken  possession  of  the  government  of  his  soul. 

It  is  said  in  the  next  place,  that  "  they  knew  that  they 
were  naked."  They  were  so  before  ;  they  saw  this  before ; 
how  was  it  that  they  saw  it  with  so  strange  and  startling  a 
feeling  now  ?  They  needed  in  Paradise  once  no  raiment, 
because  there  were  no  chilling  fogs,  no  cold,  biting  wintry 
nights;  and  they  needed  none  so  far  as  the  decent  and 
becoming  were  concerned,  for  there  was  no  sin,  and  there- 
fore no  shame.  How  was  it,  then,  that  the  instant  the 
inner  man  had  committed  an  offence  against  God,  the  outer 
man  was  discontented  in  the  sight  of  God,  and  in  the  sight 
of  himself,  and  in  the  sight  of  one  another  ?  I  believe  that 
the  real  explanation  of  it  was  this:  —  They  felt  that  they 
had  lost  something,  they  knew  not  what;  and  just  as  we 
see  blundering  physicians  prescribing  for  the  body  when  the 
mind  is  at  fault,  and  is  the  originating  cause  of  the  mischief, 
so  here  poor  Adam  and  Eve  supposed  that  they  had  lost  a 
raiment  for  the  body,  when  they  had  lost  and  been  denuded 
of  the  righteousness  of  the  soul ;  and  they  attempted  to 
clothe  the  body  as  the  first  instinct  of  their  nature,  in  the 
vain  and  foolish  hope  that  by  so  doing  they  should  clothe 
the  soul,  and  reinstate  it  in  the  pristine  relationship  to  God 
that  it  had  lost  for  ever. 

They  therefore  took  fig-tree  leaves,  "  and  made  themselves 
aprons."  The  fig-tree  is  supposed  by  some  to  have  been 
"  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  Not  that 
the  fig-tree  could  teach  evil  or  good,  since  it  was  merely  -a 
sacramental  sign,  or  symbol  of  God's  authority,  and  of 
Adam's  allegiance  to  the  Sovereign  of  the  universe.  It 
has,  however,  been  supposed  by  some  that  the  fig-tree  was 
"th(^tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and  evil."  This  has 
been  gathered  from  tlie  fact  that  in  the  Scriptures,  and  in 
the  proverbial  expressions  of  nations,  some  instances   of 


106  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

# 

which  I  have  before  alluded  to,  a  bad  sense  is  given  to  the 
fig-tree.  However  this  may  be,  they  clothed  themselves 
with  fig-tree  leaves ;  and  they  thought  that  while  they  con- 
cealed himself  and  herself  from  herself  and  himself,  they 
therefore  concealed  themselves  from  God,  and  satisfied  the 
sense  of  loss  they  felt.  But  is  this  not  a  picture  of  all  of 
us  ?  We  fancy  that  when  we  conceal  ourselves  from  our- 
selves, we  have  concealed  ourselves  from  God.  There  is 
not  a  bush,  nor  a  tree,  nor  a  hole,  nor  a  hill,  nor  a  valley, 
into  which  man  will  not  run  to  conceal  himself  from  God. 
And  when  at  last  he  finds  that  the  darkness  hideth  not  from 
him,  that  the  night  becomes  light  to  him,  then  he  cries,  not 
as  the  conclusion  of  his  intellect,  but  as  the  aspiration  of  his 
heart,  "  No  God  ! "  Adam,  by  clothing  himself  and  flying 
from  God,  tried  to  conceal  himself  fr#m  God,  or  at  least  to 
clothe  himself  wdth  that  which  would  put  him  right  in  his 
relationship  to  God.  Perhaps  it  was  his  attempt  to  justify 
himself,  to  make  a  righteousness  of  his  own,  to  repair  to 
himself  all  the  damage  he  had  done,  and  present  himself  to 
God  again  in  clothing  in  which  God  would  receive  him. 
All  this  is  enacted  still,  man  will  have  recourse  to  a  thou- 
sand expedients  in  order  to  get  a  right  to  heaven,  if  he  can 
only  avoid  that  divine  and  simple  expedient,  coming  with 
nothing,  but  just  naked  as  he  is,  to  receive  from  Christ  a 
righteousness  to  which  he  has  no  title,  but  which  is  of  grace, 
that  God  may  have  the  glory,  while  we  have  all  the  benefit. 
When  they  were  thus  clothed,  they  heard  the  voice  of 
God  in  the  garden.  Thus  arrayed  in  apparel  of  their  own 
selection,  the  best  that  they  could  find,  and  the  best  that 
they  could  think  of,  one  would  have  thought  they  could 
have  stayed  to  hear  the  voice  of  God  in  the  garden.  But, 
it  is  said,  when  they  heard  that  voice,  they  fled,  and 'they 
sought  to  hide  themselves ;  they  were  afraid.  Why  was 
this  ?     That  voice  came  to  them  in  music  in  their  early  and 


REDEMPTION.  107 

better  days ;  that  footfall  was  tlie  sweetest  sound  in  all  the 
sounds  and  harmonies  of  Eden;  that  bright  Light  —  that 
Jesus  manifest  to  them  in  some  of  those  forms  in  which  he 
was  manifest  before  his  incarnation  —  was  to  them  the 
noblest  image  they  could  look  on ;  his  dear  words,  the  most 
delightful  they  could  hear.  How  had  this  harmony  become 
discord?  How  had  this  footfall  become  the  sign  of  ap- 
proaching peril  ?  God  was  not  changed ;  his  purposes  had 
not  been  broken,  his  promises  had  not  failed.  It  was  not 
on  Sinai  and  amid  thunder,  that  he  spoke ;  it  was  not  in  the 
blazing  lightning  or  in  the  flashing  fire  that  he  came.  Why 
then  so  appalled  ?  Why  afraid  ?  It  is  sin  within  makes 
cowards  of  us  all ;  and  wherever  there  is  a  sense  of  guilti- 
ness in  man's  heart,  there  there  is  the  wish,  either  that  there 
were  no  God,  or  that  by  some  resource  of  his  own  he  might 
escape  from  the  cognizance  and  inspection  of  God. 

But  God  did  not  allow  Adam  to  escape  from  him,  though 
Adam  wished  and  tried  to  do  so.  We  run  from  God,  but 
he  follows  us ;  his  right  hand  sustains  us,  and  he  saves  us 
often  from  our  greatest  enemy,  that  is,  ourselves.  "  Adam," 
God  called  out,  "  where  art  thou  ?  "  What  a  startling  ques- 
tion was  that,  "  Where  art  thou  !  "  How  is  the  gold  become 
dim  !  how  is  the  fine  gold  changed  !  What  a  sad  alteration  ! 
what  a  terrible  catastrophe  !  "  Poor  Adam,  what  have  you 
made  yourself  ?  Where  art  thou  ?  What  hast  thou  done  ?  " 
And  then  Adam  repeats  the  paltry  and  equivocal  excuse, 
only  in  other  words,  which  he  had  used  before ;  and  finally 
his  day  in  Eden  was  closed,  after,  however,  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  gospel,  by  his  being  driven  out  of  Paradise. 
But  why  driven  out  of  it  ?  Because  he  had  lost  his  only 
title  to  it,  and  the  only  fitness  that  could  qualify  him  for  its 
enjoyment.  Perfect  righteousness  was  his  title  to  Paradise ; 
this  title  he  had  lost.  Fitness  of  character  was  Adam's 
qualification  for  Paradise ;  that  fitness  of  character  he  lost 


108  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

as  soon  as  sin  cast  its  shadow  into  liis  heart.  In  judgment, 
as  in  mercy,  he  was  driven  out  of  Paradise.  The  air  of 
Eden  he  could  breathe  no  more ;  he  was  now  a  patient  fit 
for  an  hospital,  where  he  could  be  cured,  not  for  Eden, 
where  the  healthy,  the  holy,  and  the  happy  only  were.  He 
was  a  sinner,  fit  only  for  a  state  where  sin  had  done  its 
work ;  not  a  saint,  whose  joy  would  grow  by  continuing  in 
the  immediate  presence  of  God.  "  The  lust  of  the  flesh, 
and  the  lust  of  the  eyes,  and  the  pride  of  life,"*had  now 
entered  the  sanctuary  of  his  heart.  All  was  wrong  within ; 
he  was  only  fit,  therefore,  for  a  world  that  was  all  wrong 
without.  And  so  he  left  Paradise,  looking  behind  upon  the 
glory  he  had  forfeited,  and  looking  forward  upon  the  barren 
earth  which  he  was  now  doomed  to  till  in  the  sweat  of  his 
brow.  What  a  change  must  he  have  felt !  Clouds,  where 
all  was  sunshine  —  a  vitiated  air,  where  all  erst  was  balm  — 
thistles  breaking  forth  in  every  acre,  where  he  had  only  to 
look  before,  and  responsive  to  his  look  the  very  earth  burst 
into  roses,  and  every  thing  rejoiced;  and  instead  of  the 
groups  of  animals  that  used  to  cluster  around  him,  and  own 
him  as  their  lord,  he  now  went  out  into  a  menagerie  of 
wild  beasts,  which  rose  against  man  with  one  consent, 
because  man  had  risen  against  God.  All  was  materially 
changed  without,  because  all  was  morally  changed  within. 

We  have  in  this  history  the  most  rational  account  of  the 
introduction  of  sin  into  our  world.  We  have,  in  the  next 
place,  the  most  rational  record  of  the  consequences  that 
followed  from  that  sin.  Shame  painted  itself  upon  the 
cheek,  where  sin  had  raised  its  throne  within  the  heart: 
they  were  ashamed  to  approach  God.  Fear  instantly  took 
possession  of  the  heart,  where  transgression  had  previously 
erected  its  throne.  From  being  a  freeman,  because  the  son 
of  God,  Adam  felt  himself  now  the  bondslave  of  Satan,  — 
a  law  in  his  members  warring  against  the  law  of  his  spirit; 


REDEMPTION.  109 

and  bringing  lilm  captive  to  sin  and  death.  In  one  word, 
he  became  dead  morally,  dead  spiritually.  Mortality  seized 
upon  every  fibre  of  his  frame,  and  from  that  moment  his 
life,  protracted  as  it  was  for  many  hundred  years,  was  a 
ceaseless  descent  from  perfect  health  to  the  closing  stroke 
of  death,  when  to  the  dust  he  returned,  out  of  which  he 
was  originally  taken. 

But  we  read  in  the  next  place,  that  God  did  not  leave 
man  to  the  effects  of  his  transgression  ;  for  he  said  to  the 
serpent,  "  I  will  put  enmity  between  thee  and  the  woman, 
and  between  thy  seed  and  her  seed;  it  shall  bruise  thy 
head,  and  thou  shalt  bruise  his  heel."  Although  Christ 
should  bruise  Satan's  head,  his  heel  should  be  bruised  by 
the  serpent's  stratagems  and  wiles.  So  far  he  proclaimed 
the  subtlety  of  the  serpent ;  and,  while  he  pronounced 
punishment  upon  the  serpent  as  a  reptile,  he  still  more 
proclaimed  punishment  to  Satan,  who  made  use  of  the 
dumb  animal  in  order  to  execute  so  great  and  grievous,  and 
too  successful,  an  assault  upon  mankind. 

We  cannot  read  the  New  Testament  without  tracing 
allusions  to  the  serpent.  "  That  serpent,"  "  The  dragon," 
"  The  serpent,"  "  The  old  serpent."  (Rev.  xii.  9.)  And  the 
Apostle  Paul  speaks  of  the  serpent  beguiling  them,  evi- 
dently alluding  to  Satan  as  the  tempter  of  mankind. 

The  woman's  seed  here  spoken  of,  is,  no  doubt,  the 
Saviour ;  and  the  prediction  is,  that  from  the  very  race  that 
had  become  the  subjects  of  Satan's  victory  should  proceed 
One  who  should  bruise  Satan's  head,  reverse  the  havoc  of 
the  fall,  restore  all  things,  and  replace  man  in  his  forfeited 
relationship  to  God.  We  have  in  these  words  the  first 
evangelical  sermon  that  was  ever  preached.  We  have  here 
the  glorious  gospel  sounding  amid  the  wrecks  of  Paradise ; 
a  bright  rainbow  arching  the  earth,  and  indicating  a  path- 
way back  to  God;  a  voice  sounding  from  between  the 
10 


110  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

cherubim,  and  speaking  of  a  Lamb  slain  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world,  who  should  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil,  bruise  Satan  under  his  feet,  and  proclaim  to  the 
whole  universe  mercy  and  truth  that  have  met  together, 
and  righteousness  and  peace  that  have  kissed  each  other, 
over  his  sacrifice,  and  in  the  forgiveness  of  them  that  have 
sinned  against  God. 

The  very  first  effect,  then,  of  the  proclamation  of  the 
gospel  to  Adam,  was  his  own  restoration.  He  laid  aside  the 
fig-tree  leaves  that  he  had  selected  himself,  and  he  was 
clothed  in  an  entirely  different  apparel.  It  is  said,  God 
clothed  him  with'  the  skins  of  animals.  The  instant  that  he 
heard  the  gospel  we  find  him  laying  aside  the  clothing  of 
his  own  selection,  and  immediately  being  clothed  with  the 
skins  of  animals.  Now  no  animals  had  probably  died,  on 
account  of  the  shortness  of  the  time  that  had  elapsed  since 
the  fall ;  animals  were  not  then  slain  for  food ;  and  the 
presumption  therefore  is,  that  these  animals  were  slain  for 
sacrifices ;  and  especially  does  this  become  probable,  when 
we  find  that  the  first  sacrifice  that  Abel  made  was  a  slain 
lamb,  which  sacrifice  God  accepted,  whilst  he  did  not  accept 
the  bouquet  of  flowers  which  Cain  offered  on  his  altar. 
The  presumption  is,  therefore,  that  these  animals  were 
slain  for  sacrifices.  In  their  blood  Adam  saw  the  type  of 
the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world,  and 
in  their  skins  substituted  for  his  own  preferred  fig-tree 
leaves,  he  saw  the  type  of  that  righteousness  which  was 
substituted  for  his  own  righteousness,  and  in  which  he 
could  be  arrayed  as  in  raiment  white  and  clean,  which  is 
the  righteousness  of  saints.  In  the  blood  of  the  slain 
animals  he  saw  the  foreshadow  of  Christ's  sacrifice  by 
which  God  forgave  his  sins ;  in  their  skins,  wherewith  he 
was  clothed,  he  saw  Christ's  righteousness  imputed  to  him, 
in  which  alone  he  was  justified.    In  Christ's  work  there 


REDEMPTION.  Ill 

are  two  distinct  aspects.  By  what  he  suffered  in  his  death, 
our  sins  are  blotted  out ;  by  what  he  did  in  his  obedience  to 
the  law,  we  are  justified.  By  Christ's  bloodshedding  we 
escape  the  penal  sentence  of  eternal  death;  but  it  is  by 
Christ's  obedience  that  we  merit  the  reward  that  we  have 
justly  forfeited.  Thus,  Christ's  passive  sacrifice,  by  which 
we  are  forgiven,  and  Christ's  active  obedience,  or  the 
righteousness  by  which  we  are  justified,  were  vividly  pro- 
claimed to  Adam  amid  the  wreck  and  clouds  and  chaos  that 
he  had  brought  upon  himself,  and  there  and  then  he  was 
taught  to  lift  up  his  heart,  and,  instead  of  despairing,  hope 
for  that  reparation  which  we  know  will  be  accomplished  in 
the  fulness  of  the  times. 

The  only  thing  that  has  perplexed  some  in  regarding 
this  passage  as  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel,  is  the  fact 
that  it  was  addressed  to  the  serpent,  and  not  to  Adam  and 
Eve.  Very  naturally  it  has  been  asked.  Why  did  God 
proclaim  this  glorious  promise  to  the  vile  serpent,  and  not 
directly  to  Adam  and  Eve?  Perhaps  it  may  have  been 
especially  to  abase  and  humble  the  guilty  pair,  —  to  show 
them  that  that  God  whom  they  had  offended,  was  separated 
from  them  by  their  sins.  But  it  is  plain  that  yet,  whilst  he 
told  the  serpent  this  promise,  he  told  it  for  Adam  and  Eve, 
though  not  to  Adam  and  Eve.  They  heard  the  promise, 
and  rejoiced  in  the  gospel  it  unbosomed,  whilst  they  were 
humbled  by  the  truly  humbling  fact,  that  God  did  not  speak 
to  them  directly  until  they  had  accepted  the  truth,  been 
reinstated  in  their  lost  relationship,  and,  from  being  strangers, 
had  been  made  again  the  friends  and  the  followers  of  the 
Lamb.  Or  God  may  have  addressed  these  words  to  the 
serpent  first,  in  order  to  evolve  his  own  glory.  In  other 
words,  God  would  foreshow  that  this  great  interrupter  of  a 
happy  world  must  be  destroyed,  before  he  would  proclaim 
this  glad  news  which  would  bri^g  joy  to  the  hearts  of  the 


112  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

guilty.  It  may  have  been  meant  to  indicate  the  subjugation 
of  the  evil,  that  subjugation  evincing  the  power  of  Him 
who  should  accomplish  it ;  or  that  his  glory  must  be  com- 
patible with  the  promise  of  a  Saviour,  and  with  the  mercy 
and  forgiveness  which  it  embosomed  for  Adam  and  Eve, 
and  for  all  that'  should  believe  in  the  name  of  Jesus.  In 
other  words,  it  may  have  been  designed  to  prove  that  the 
Father  was  not  to  overshadow  the  Judge ;  that  mercy  must 
not  be  the  grave  of  justice ;  that  sin  could  only  be  forgiven 
in  a  mode  that  should  vindicate  the  ways  of  God  to  man, 
and  prove  that  he  was  just,  and  holy,  and  true,  while  he 
justified  and  freely  forgave  the  guilty  that  believed  in 
Jesus. 

Thus  we  have  the  gospel  preached  in  Paradise,  and  jus- 
tification by  faith  alone  —  its  distinctive  and  peculiar 
dogma  —  proclaimed  some  six  thousand  years  ago.  Adam 
and  Eve  were  Protestants.  The  first  sermon  that  they 
heard  was  emphatically  a  Protestant  one.  "  Christ  and 
him  crucified "  was  the  text ;  "  Christ  and  him  crucified " 
was  the  sermon ;  and  these  two  transgressors  were  the  first 
congregation  that  listened  to  it,  and  the  first  true  church 
that  loved  and  lived  it.  God  told  them,  "  I  am  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  life."  Adam  and  Eve  heard  substan- 
tially these  words,  "  I  have  made  him  to  be  sin  for  you, 
who  knew  no  sin ;  that  you,  who  have  committed  this  great 
primal  sin,  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of  God  in 
him."  (2  Cor.  v.  21.)  Or  rather,  if'  it  were  Jesus  Avho 
preached  the  sermon,  as  we  believe  it  was,  then  he  substan- 
tially said  to  them,  "  Come  unto  me,  Adam  and  Eve,  weary 
and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest.  My  awful 
agony  to  be  endured  shall  prevent  yours.  My  incarnation 
shall  restore  the  earth  to  a  better  Paradise.  My  tears  shall 
christen,  my  blood  shall  reconsecrate  it ;  ray  pierced  hands 
shall  lift  you  to  a  height  o^  glory,  higher  far  than  that  from 


REDEMPTION.  113 

whicli  you  fell ;  and  your  last  estate  shall  be  better,  more 
glorious,  and  more  triumphant  by  redeeming  grace,  than 
the  first  was  by  creative  power." 

It  was  thus  the  great  truth  of  gospel  acceptance  through 
the  blood  of  Jesus  is  as  old  as  the  Fall,  was  preached,  as 
with  a  trumpet  voice,  at  the  Fall,  was  not  there  a  doctrine 
of  reserve,  as  some  have  wished  it  to  be,  but  the  prominent 
proclamation  —  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega  —  the  very  pith 
and  substance  of  the  first  promise  that  was  made.  There 
was  indicated  in  this  very  promise  that  the  restoration  was 
to  be  effected  by  sufferings  then  yet  to  be  endured ;  for  it  is 
said  that,  while  Satan's  head  was  to  be  bruised,  the  Saviour's 
heel  was  to  be  hurt  in  doing  so.  And  what  is  this  but  the 
early  epitome  of  the  statement,  "  It  became  him,  for  whom 
are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things,  in  bringing 
many  sons  unto  glory,  to  make  the  Captain  of  their  salva- 
tion perfect  through  sufferings  ?  "  (Heb.  ii.  10.)  In  other 
words,  it  is  the  indication,  that  through  death  Jesus  should 
destroy  him  who  had  the  power  of  death ;  and  therefore, 
that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  not  the  patient  endurance 
of  the  martyr  attesting  the  sincerity  of  his  convictions,  but 
the  expiatory  agonies  of  the  Victim  making  atonement  for 
all  the  sins  of  all  that  believe.  Refuse  to  believe  that  the 
sufferings  of  Jesus  were  expiatory,  and  you  exhaust  Chris- 
tianity of  its  lifeblood ;  you  deny  us  that  which  is  the  basis 
of  our  brightest,  our  only,  our  eternal  hopes ;  you  make 
Christianity  the  revelation  only  of  a  more  perfect  standard, 
and  to  man,  therefore,  the  vehicle  of  only  a  more  thorough 
and  hopeless  despair.  What  man  needs  in  his  ruin  is,  not 
the  knowledge  of  what  he  should  be,  for  that  he  knows  too 
well,  but  the  process  by  whicli  he  may  be  restored  to  what 
he  should  be.  When  we  go  into  an  hospital,  the  physician 
does  not  point  to  the  standard  of  pure  health,  and  merely 
say  that  is  what  you  should  be.  If  he  did,  you  would  tell 
10* 


114  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

him  that  he  was  placed  in  the. ward,  not  to  tell  you  how  far 
you  are  in  a  state  of  sickness,  but  to  tell  you  how  you  may 
be  restored  to  the  health  that  you  have  lost.  We  are  pa- 
tients in  a  moral  sense ;  we  are  sufferers,  because  we  are 
sinners ;  and  what  we  need  is,  not  a  republication  of  the 
law  that  we  have  broken,  nor  a  reexhibition  in  brighter 
light  of  a  standard  that  we  have  not  conformed  to,  or  of  an 
archetypal  glory  we  have  fallen  from,  but  the  manifestation 
of  a  curative,  restorative  process,  by  which  the  wrong  may 
be  righted,  and  the  disease  healed;  in  other  words,  an 
atonement  and  sacrifice  by  which  our  sins  may  be  blotted 
out,  and  our  nature  renewed.  All  this  is  contained  in  the 
promise  proclaimed  in  Paradise.  Adam  and  Eve  had  the 
type  of  it  in  the  slain  animals,  and  in  the  cross  and  in  Cal- 
vary we  have  the  fact  and  fulness  of  it. 

It  follows  from  all  this,  that  our  present  life  must  be  more 
or  less  a  ceaseless  struggle.  The  serpent's  power,  it  is  said, 
shall  bruise  the  Saviour's  heel.  And  what  took  place 
between  Christ  and  Satan,  takes  place  between  those  who 
are  Christ's  and  those  who  are  Satan's.  Well  did  our  Lord 
say,  "I  am  not  come  to  send  peace  on  earth,  but  a  sword." 
Whenever  the  church  is  very  quiet,  we  have  too  much 
reason  to  fear  it  is  very  corrupt.  Stir,  agitation,  conflict, 
battle,  —  these  are  the  inevitable  characteristics  of  an  age 
in  which  the  world  feels  that  it  is  losing  ground,  and  the 
church,  overflowing  with  life,  strives  after  her  great  and 
everlasting  destiny.  Two  great  eternities  are  at  issue ;  the 
battle  field  is  time ;  souls  are  the  prizes.  How  great  must 
those  souls  be,  for  which  two  eternities  battle  I  how  impor- 
tant is  that  creature  for  whom  heaven  and  hell  are  in 
conflict !  and  how  precious  is  that  promise  which  announces, 
that  the  issue  of  that  battle  is  fixed  and  predetermined  from 
everlasting  ages;  that  Satan  shall  be  utterly  discomfited; 
that  error  shall  be  finally  laid  prostrate ;  that  all  that  is 


REDEMPTION.  115 

evil  shall  be  rooted  out  of  this  earth,  and  that  all  that  is 
bright,  and  beautiful,  and  holj,  and  happy,  shall  character- 
ize it  once  more ;  that  whatever  Satan  has  clouded  shall  be 
purified ;  that  whatever  Satan  has  convulsed  with  fever,  or 
infected  with  disease,  shall  regain  perfect  health;  that 
wherever  the  trail  of  the  serpent  is,  there  the  foot  print 
of  the  King  of  kings  shall  be;  that  wherever  Satan's 
empire  now  is,  there  Christ's  kingdom  shall  be;  and  he 
shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever,  and  put  all  things  under  him; 
and  the  last  enemy  that  he  shall  destroy  is  death,  and  when 
he  has  put  him  under  him,  then  God  in  Christ  shall  be  all 
in  all!  (1  Cor.  XV.  24-28.) 

We  have  an  indication  in  this  promise  that  Jesus  must  be 
more  than  man.  I  should  infer  from  this  very  text,  "  The 
woman's  seed  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head,"  that  Christ 
must  be  God.  It  is  asked,  how  ?  In  this  way :  Adam  in 
the  midst  of  a  garden,  in  perfect  innocence,  in  the  most 
favorable  circumstances  in  which  humanity  was  ever  placed, 
or  could  be  placed,  was  tempted  by  Satan ;  he  yielded,  and 
was  overcome.  But  one  was  to  emerge  from  Adam,  who 
in  a  wilderness  should  be  also  tempted  by  Satan,  in  the 
most  unfavorable  circumstances,  while  clothed  with  a 
humanity  that  was  no  stranger  to  fatigue,  and  pains,  and 
tears,  steeped  in  sorrows,  and  penetrated  by  a  thousand 
agonies :  yet  there,  and  in  such  circumstances.  He  overcame 
and  discomfited  the  wicked  one,  and  was  more  than  con- 
queror, and  finally  nailed  powers  and  principalities  to  his 
cross,  and  made  a  show  of  them  openly.  If  then  humanity 
in  Adam  fell  before  the  tempter  in  the  most  favorable  cir- 
cumstances in  which  humanity  could  be  placed,  we  must 
infer  that  that  humanity  which  met  the  tempter  in  the  most 
unfavorable  circumstances,  and  bruised  his  head,  and  glori- 
ously triumphed,  must  have  been  allied  to  God ;  and  that 
Jesus   therefore   was   none   less   than    God   himself,   "the 


116  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

Wonderful,  the  Counsellor,  the  Mighty  God,  the  Prince  of 
Peace."  (Isa.  ix.  6.) 

"We  learn  that  this  promise  and  the  gospel  it  contains  are 
for  all  mankind.  The  first  Gospel  was  preached,  not  to  the 
Jews,  for  there  were  no  Jews  in  existence  then  —  I  mean, 
as  distinguished  from  Gentiles,  —  but  to  all  mankind,  since 
it  was  preached  to  Adam  and  Eve  as  the  representatives  of 
all  humanity.  Every  false  creed  is  local ;  but  this  glorious 
embassy  of  heaven,  this  musical  promise  of  glad  things,  this 
offer  of  forgiveness  to  the  guilty,  has  nothing  in  it  of  locality 
or  restriction;  it  is  catholic  in  the  noblest  sense  of  that 
expression.  It  has  all  space  for  its  parish,  all  ages  for  its 
action,  and  all  men  for  its  audience ;  and  all  are  welcome  to 
taste  of  the  living  bread,  and  to  eat  of  its  fruits,  and  to 
participate  in  its  enduring  blessings. 

On  whose  side  are  we?  Are  we  with  the  serpent,  or 
with  the  bruiser  of  the  serpent's  head  ?  This  is  a  moment- 
ous question  at  all  times ;  it  is  emphatically  so  to  the  aged ; 
it  is  practically  so  to  every  young  man  and  young  woman. 
On  whose  side  are  you,  dear  reader?  I  do  not  suppose 
that  you  are  actively  enlisted  against  the  Saviour,  but  you 
need  not  to  be  reminded  that  he  himself  has  said,  that  he 
who  is  not  with  him  is  against  him,  and  that  he  who 
gathereth  not  scattereth.  If,  therefore,  you  neglect  the 
great  salvation,  for  all  practical  purposes  you  reject  it ;  and 
if  you  neglect  or  reject  it,  you  may  disguise  it  as  you  like, 
you  may  wear  the  uniform  you  please,  you  are  on  the 
serpent's  side,  and  with  his  your  head  must  be  bruised; 
you  are  not  upon  the  Saviour's  side,  nor  with  him  destined 
gloriously  and  finally  to  triumph.  But  if  you  are  now  on 
the  wrong  side,  there  is  no  reason  why  you  should  be  there 
a  single  day  more.  Christ  asks  the  transference  of  your 
sympathies ;  he  bids  you  pass  from  the  side  where  you 
ought  not  to  be  to  that  side  where  you  are  welcome  to  be. 


REDEMPTION.  117 

He  asks  no  sacrifice,  he  asks  no  surrender,  except  that  you 
will  put  on  his  uniform,  that  you  will  come  under  his 
banners,  that  you  will  ally  yourselves  to  his  cause,  and  that 
you  will  do  it,  not  merely  because  it  is  duty,  but  because 
it  is  instant,  unspeakable,  and  enduring  delight.  If,  there- 
fore, I  address  any  one  who  is  careless  or  hostile,  I  ask, 
why  do  you  continue  so?  What  profit  is  there  in  the 
service  of  sin  ?  "What  prospects  of  victory  are  there  where 
God  has  predicted  only  defeat  ?  What  enjoyment  is  there 
in  the  service  of  sin  ?  Is  it  not  weariness  ?  It  costs  a  man 
more  to  work  his  way  to  ruin,  than  ever  it  costs  a  Christian 
in  sacrifice  to  find  his  way  to  heaven?  No  man  gets  to 
ruin  except  amid  protests  from  his  conscience,  struggles  in 
his  heart,  warnings,  remorse,  regrets,  repentance,  and  a 
management  that  requires  so  many  tactics,  such  cleverness, 
such  equivocation,  such  trouble,  that  I  am  sure  it  is  an 
unhappy  thing  to  be  in  the  way  that  leads  to  ruin,  and  that 
it  must  be  the  happiest  of  all  things  to  have  a  single  eye, 
a  body  full  of  light,  our  hearts  set  upon  our  home,  and  our 
treasure  where  our  God  and  our  Saviour  is.  If,  therefore, 
you  are  on  that  side  on  which  there  is  no  happiness,  and 
where  the  wages  are  only  death,  and  where  the  issue  must 
be  disaster,  defeat,  and  ruin,  I  ask  you  to  become  the 
soldier  of  the  great  Captain  of  the  faith,  to  put  on  the 
whole  armor  of  God,  "having  your  loins  girt  about  with 
truth,  and  having  on  the  breastplate  of  righteousness ;  and 
your  feet  shod  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace ; 
above  all,  taking  the  shield  of  faith,  wherewith  ye  shall  be 
able  to  quench  all  the  fiery  darts  of  the  wicked ;  and  taking 
the  helmet  of  salvation,  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which 
is  the  word  of  God,  stand  steadfast,  immovable,  knowing  that 
your  labor  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord."  (Eph.  vi.  14-17; 
1  Cor.  XV.  58.)  The  service  of  Satan  is  misery  upon 
earth,  disappointment  bitter  and  corrosive  at  the  judgment- 


118  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

seat.  The  service  of  Christ  is  freedom  and  happiness 
upon  earth,  and  joy  unspeakable  and  full  of  glory  in 
eternity.  Choose  you  this  day,  dear  reader,  whom  you  will 
serve.  Decide.  I  could  not  remain  a  single  day  without 
determining  whether  this  Christianity  preached  from  so 
many  pulpits,  circulated  in  so  many  tracts,  described  in  so 
many  books,  be  a  mere  piece  of  priestcraft,  a  cunningly 
devised  fable,  or  the  wisdom,  the  inspiration,  and  the  power 
of  God.  It  can  Jbe  nothing  but  the  greatest  lie,  or  the  most 
instant,  intense,  and  absorbing  truth ;  there  is  nothing 
between.  He  who  feels  neither  enthusiastic  in  the  cause 
of  Christ,  nor  fanatic  in  the  cause  of  Satan,  is  an  incon- 
sistency, an  inexplicable  inconsistency;  he  is  neither  cold 
nor  hot,  yet  he  is  not  less  guilty.  But  the  man  who  goes 
forth  under  the  banner  of  the  pope,  or  the  infidel,  to  put 
down  the  religion  of  the  Bible,  is  at  least  a  consistent  man ; 
so  too  he  who  goes  forth  witk  the  name  of  Jesus  in  his 
heart,  to  cover  the  earth  with  his  trophies,  is  a  consistent 
man ;  but  any  thing  between  is  a  huge  and  gigantic  incon- 
sistency, a  contradiction,  and  a  blunder.  I  can  see  but  one 
method  of  escape  from  the  wrath  to  come ;  I  know  of  no 
other ;  that  method  which  was  preached  in  Paradise,  and  is 
proclaimed  in  the  gospel  —  Christ  Jesus.  This  is  salva- 
tion ;  and  if  it  be  not^  there  is  no  truth  in  the  Bible,  and  no 
hope  worth  having  in  a  Christian  heart.  But  "  we  know 
whom  we  have  believed,  and  are  persuaded  that  he  is  able 
to  keep  that  which  we  have  committed  unto  him  against 
that  day ; "  and  that  we  have  not  followed  cunningly 
devised  fables,  when  we  preached  and  you  accepted  Christ 
as  all  our  salvation,  and  all  our  desire. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

MISSIONAKY    DUTY. 

"Where  is  your  heathen  brother?    From  his  grave 
Near  thy  own  gates,  or  'neath  a  foreign  sky, 
From  the  thronged  depths  of  ocean's  moaning  wave, 

His  answei-ing  blood  reproachfully  doth  cry. 
Blood  of  the  soul !     Can  all  earth's  fountains  make 
Thy  dark  stain  disappear?    Stewards  of  God,  awake ! " 

"  And  the  Lord  said  unto  Cain,  Where  is  Abel  thy  brother  ?    And  he  said, 
I  know  not:  am  I  my  brother's  keeper?  "  —  Gen.  iv.  9. 

The  question  itself,  "Where  is  Abel  thy  brother?"  is 
not  a  local  or  'a  temporary  one.  It  may  be  asked  in  every 
age,  uttered  in  every  tongue,  and  addressed  to  every 
inhabitant  of  every  latitude,  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to 
the  going  down  of  the  same.  Before,  however,  I  imme- 
diately discuss  it,  or  endeavor  to  show  its  bearing  upon 
us,  I  would  notice  two  or  three  preliminary  facts. 

First,  the  earliest  death  on  record  was  a  sudden  one. 
Whether  the  heart  be  arrested  by  the  stab  of  the  assassin's 
sword,  or  by  the  touch  of  the  finger  of  God,  in  either  case 
it  is  equally  a  sudden  death.  Life  in  such  a  case  is  not. 
suffered  gradually  to  uncoil ;  the  spring  is  broken,  and  the 
machinery  stands  still.  But  sudden  death  is  no  evidence 
of  the  disapprobation  of  God.  We  are  apt  to  say,  that  the 
eighteen  on  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell  must  have  been 
disapproved  of  God ;  and  that  the  spared  and  the  escaped 
must  have  been  approved  by   God.     It  is   not  so.     The 


120  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

first  saint  upon  earth  who  died,  died  suddenly;  and, 
therefore,  sudden  death  may  be  as  much  an  evidence  of 
special  favor  as  of  the  reverse.  Perhaps,  it  is  special 
favor.  It  is  in  most  cases  death  without  the  pangs  of 
dying;  it  is  leaping  from  the  visible  beyond  the  horizon, 
and  finding  one's  self  at  one  bound  amid  the  glories  of  a 
better  and  a  brighter  land.  Sudden  death  is  thus  sudd^ 
glory.  Abel,  the  most  distinguished  saint  of  his  day,  was 
the  first  instance  of  sudden  death. 

Another  interesting  fact  strikes  us  here,  the  first  death 
was  that  of  a  Christian.  There  is  something  beautifully 
touching  in  this.  If  the  first  death  had  been  that  of  Cain, 
death  would  have  been  seen  in  all  its  horror.  Up  to  this 
moment,  death  was  only  known  as  a  word,  it  was  not  known 
as  a  fact ;  it  was  embosomed  in  the  curse,  it  had  not  yet 
seized  its  victim :  but  if  the  first  death  had  been  that  of 
Cain,  the  ungodly,  man  would  have  witnessed,  perhaps,  a 
spectacle  too  terrible  for  his  yet  unhardened  sensibilities  to 
bear ;  he  would  have  seen  death  enter  as  death  physical, 
death  spiritual,  and  death  eternal,  as  the  wages  of  sin,  at 
one  dread  stroke.  But  when  it  came  first  upon  the  saint  of 
God,  it  introduced  itself,  the  first  evidence  of  the  curse,  not 
in  the  shape  of  the  tyrant  spectre,  but  rather  under  the 
sign  of  a  peaceful  sleep ;  and  the  grave  even,  notwithstand- 
ing the  previous  accompaniments  of  cruelty,  was  irradiated 
by  the  rays  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  and  was  revealed 
in  the  splendor  of  those  beams  as  a  vestibule  of  glory,  a 
porch  of  heaven. 

Yet  the  first  death  was  that  of  a  martyr,  as  if  to  tell  us 
that  the  struggle  between  the  woman's  seed  and  the  serpent 
had  begun ;  as  if  to  reveal  to  us  by  a  greaj:  fact,  "  In  the 
world  ye  shall  have  tribulation."  "  Through  tribulation  ye 
must  enter  the  kingdom."  "  Wherefore  did  Cain  slay 
Abel  ?  Because  his  own  works  were  evil,  and  his  brother's 
righteous." 


MISSIONARY  DUTY.  121 

We  thus  learn  three  important  facts.  First,  that  sudden 
death  is  not  an  evil  more  than  protracted  death ;  and  sec- 
ondly, that  the  first  death  was  that  of  a  Christian,  whereby 
God  softened  the  curse,  and  mitigated  it  to  the  utmost ;  and 
lastly,  that  the  first  death  was  that  of  a  martyr,  to  teach  us 
that  this  world  is  not  the  place  for  the  present  triumph  of 
light  and  love,  that  "  a  rest  remaineth "  is  not  yet  for  the 
people  of  God. 

I  now  pass  to  the  more  immediate  question  before  us.  I 
assume  that  every  man  that  has  a  want  to  be  supplied,  is 
my  brother ;  that  every  human  being  who  needs  something 
that  I  can  easily,  or  even  by  sacrifice  bestow,  is  my  brother ; 
and  when  I  am  asked,  "  Where  is  thy  brother  ?  "  an  answer, 
not  an  echo,  is  demanded  from  me ;  I  pray  it  ever  may  be  a 
far  different  one  from  that  of  Cain. 

But  still,  I  must  presume,  there  are  various  classes  to 
whom  that  question  may  be  addressed,  and  from  whbm  vari- 
ous replies  would  come.  Some  men  would  answer,  if  I 
were  to  ask,  "  Where  is  thy  brother  ?  "  "  What  is  that  to 
me  ?  I  have  enough  to  do  with  myself;  I  have  plenty  to 
do  with  minding  my  own  business ;  I  cannot  attend  to  other 
people's  affairs.  What  is  that  to  me?"  'Suppose  every 
person  were  of  the  same  temper,  this  repulsive  noli  me  tan- 
gere  temper,  this  intense  absorption  in  self,  then  all  society 
would  present  only  sharp,  bristling  points,  each  repelling  all 
that  was  nearest  to  itself.  Such  things  as  hospitals  for  the 
sick,  —  those  blossoms  on  the  stem  of  life ;  and  asylums  for 
the  needy,  —  those  evidences  of  Christian  charity;  and 
missionary  societies  for  the  ignorant  and  unenlightened,  — 
those  exponents  of  the  value  and  vitality  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ,  —  would  utterly  disappear.  Each  man  caripg  for 
his  own  wants,  however  small,  and  regardless  of  the  wants 
of  his  brother,  however  weighty,  would  soon  drive  society 
into  suicide.  It  would  cease  to  cohere,  because  of  the  ex- 
11 


122  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

liaustion  of  that  only  cement,  confidence  and  mutual  love, 
wliich  prevents  it  from  exploding  into  fragments,  and  disap- 
pearing altogether  from  the  earth  on  which  it  is  reared. 
"We  have,  therefore,  an  interest  in  a  brother,  if  we  wish 
society  itself  to  cohere.  I  presume  no  Christian  would  say, 
"  What  have  I  to  do  with  a  brother  ?  I  have  enough  to  do 
with  myself."  He  would  show  thereby  that  he  cannot  be  a 
subject  of  true  religion,  if  such  were  his  expressions. 

But  others  will  say,  if  the  question,  "  Where,  is  thy 
brother  ?  "  be  put  to  them,  —  "  You  will  find,"  they  will  say, 
"  there  is  not  a  single  sufferer  who  is  not  so  by  his  own  mis- 
conduct. I  will  not  give  the  applicant  relief;  for  I  know  it 
is  his  crimes,  or  his  indolence,  or  some  indiscretion  in  his 
past  life,  that  have  led  him  to  ask  it."  Suppose  it  be  so, 
suppose  every  beggar  you  meet  is  a  criminal,  that  poverty 
is  in  every  case  the  fruit  of  sin,  are  you  not  to  mitigate  the 
sufferings  of  the  child,  because  of  the  sins  of  the  parent? 
are  you  to  shut  your  eyes  to  present  misery,  however  great, 
in  order  that  you  may  open  them  to  past  delinquencies, 
however  small,  or  however  trivial  ?  Is  it  not  enough  that 
God  exacts  the  penalty,  are  we  to  try  to  increase  it  ?  Is  it 
not  God's  prerogative  to  avenge  ?  Is  it  not  man's  noblest 
characteristic  to  have  pity,  compassion,  and  forbearance? 
And  if  God  were  to  deal  with  us  as  we  profess  to  deal  with 
a  brother,  where  should  we  be,  where  should  we  eternally 
be,  when  time  itself  is  no  more  ? 

Another,  when  the  question  is  put  to  him,  "  Where  is  thy 
brother  ?  "  would  probably  reply,  "  I  have  been  so  often  dis- 
appointed, so  often  cheated,  that  I  can  submit  to  it  no  longer ; 
I  am  satisfied,"  he  will  say,  "  if  I  help  that  brother  who 
applies  to  me,  I  shall  get  no  thanks  for  it."  Very  likely 
not.  And  if  you  do  good  in  order  to  get  flianks  for  it,  then 
what  better  are  you  than  the  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees? 
They  love  their  friends,  they  assist  their  own  companions ; 


MISSIONARY   DUTT.  123 

but  our  Lord  says,  "  Love  your  enemies ;  bless  them  that 
curse  you :  for  if  ye  love  them  which  love  you,  what  reward 
have  ye  ?  do  not  even  the  publicans  the  same  ?  And  if  ye 
salute  your  brethren  only,  what  do  ye  more  than  others  ? 
do  not  even  the  publicans  so  ? "  If  you  do  good  only  to 
anticipate  reward  upon  the  earth,  very  likely  you  will  miss 
that  reward  in  many  a  case  where  you  expect  it.  But  if  you 
do  good  because  of  our  Master  in  heaven,  leaving  the  thanks 
to  come  or  not  to  come,  as  may  be  the  influence  of  his 
grace,''then  we  shall  not  be  disappointed  upon  earth ;  and 
we  shall  show  that  magnificent,  because  Divine,  spirit,  which 
is  indicated  in  the  showers  and  the  sunbeams  that  fall  upon 
the  just  and  upon  the  unjust.  Though,  let  me  add,  I  do 
not  believe  in  the  aphorism  I  have  tried  to  reply  to ;  I  do 
not  believe  that  the  general  experience  is  that  most  men 
will  be  unthankful  for  benefits  received.  If  you  fling  a 
shilling  to  a  poor  man,  and  speak  to  him. in  opprobrious 
language,  then  you  cannot  expect  much  gratitude.  He  sees 
that  you  bestow  your  money,  not  as  the  exponent  of  your 
love,  but  to  get  rid  of  him :  and  to  expect  thankfulness  in 
such  case  is  to  expect  what  nature  w^ill  not  give.  But  if 
you  give  your  money,  and  give  with  it  the  expression  of  a 
sympathizing  and  a  feeling  heart,  I  believe  you  will  get 
thanks.  I  do  not  think  that  society  is  altogether  a  pande- 
monium^ though  it  is  not  altogether  a  paradise.  In  the 
natural  heart,  in  its  most  distant  aberration  from  God,  there 
are  unextinguished  sympathies  with  its  grand  original,  that 
will  respond  with  gratitude  for  benefits  bestowed.  And.  if 
the  feet  of  mercy  will  more  frequently  tread  the  threshold 
of  the  needy,  depend  upon  it,  songs  of  gratitude  will  be 
oftener  heard  there.  If  there  be  no  gratitude,  the  fault  is 
less  in  the  recipient  of  the  bounty,  and  more  in  the  manner 
and  the  language  of  him  who  bestows  it. 

If  I  ask  another,  "Where   is   thy   brother?"    he   will 


124  THE  cnuRCH  before  the  flood. 

answer,  tliat  in  religious  matters,  to  pass  to  another  sphere, 
every  man's  creed  is  his  own  business ;  I  have  no  right  to 
interfere  with  him,  I  must  let  him  take  his  own  way  to 
heaven,  his  religion  being  no  business  of  mine.  Suppose 
that  God  had  felt  so  to  us ;  suppose  that  Paul  had  said, 
"  My  own  religion  is  my  own  matter,  and  the  .religion  of 
the  ancient  Britons  is  good  enough  for  them ; "  or  suppose 
that  the  distant  heathen  had  been  dealt  with  by  us  in  the 
game  manner,  they  had  still  been  in  their  darkness.  -  Man's 
religion  is  first  is  his  own  matter,  but  it  never  is  exclJfsively 
his  own  matter.  It  is  just  like  man's  charity,  it  is  to  begin 
at  home,  but  it  is  not  to  stop  there.  The  first  question  we 
must  ask  is,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  but  the  very 
next  is,  "  What  must  I  do  that  my  neighbor  may  be  saved  ?  " 
But  I  put  it  to  every  man's  feelings ;  if  a  man  has  lost  his 
way  to  heaven,  and  is  groping  in  darkness,  is  it  no  business 
of  ours  to  tell  l^im.  what  is  the  true  way,  when  we  know  it  ? 
When  a  man  is  proceeding  to  the  brink  of  a  precipice 
blindfold,  is  it  not  our  business  to  tell  him  that  he  will  be 
dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks  below  if  he  proceed  a  few 
feet  further  ?  Every  privilege  is  given  us,  not  for  ourselves, 
but  for  others.  God  never  made  a  man  rich  for  himself; 
he  never  gave  a  man  a  coronet  for  his  own  brow  only ;  he 
never  gave  a  man  religion  for  his  own  heart  only.  God's 
plan  for  evangelizing  mankind  is,  to  evangelize  the  indi- 
vidual, and  then  to  make  him  the  vehicle  of  evangelic  light 
and  evangelic  love,  until  all  within  the  reach  of  his  power 
is  enlightened,  and  saturated,  and  sanctified  by  his  muni- 
ficent influence.  We  are,  therefore,  made  religious  for 
others. 

If  you  should  say,  that  if  a  man  be  perfectly  sincere,  if 
our  brother  be  sincere,  it  is  enough :  let  him  alone ;  why 
disturb  him  ?  This  is  a  very  favorite  aphorism.  We  are 
all  aware  that  the  Mahometan  is  perfectly  sincere  in  his 


MISSIONAKY   DUTY.  125 

acceptance  of  the  Koran ;  that  the  Hindoo  is  perfectly  sin- 
cere, conscientious,  and  —  what  Christians  are  not  always  — 
enthusiastic  in  his  acceptance  of  the  Shaster;  many  a 
Roman  Catholic  is  self-sacriiicingly  sincere  in  his  accep- 
tance of  the  Missal  and  the  Breviary.  Well,  what  should 
all  this  teach  us  ?  To  honor  the  men,  but  no  less  to  abhor 
the  creed.  The  man's  sincerity  is  evidence  how  much  good 
the  Fall  has  not  destroyed ;  but  the  creed  is  proof  how 
corrupt  sin  and  superstition  have  made  him.  Because  a 
man  is  sincerely  wrong,  I  will  love  him  for  his  sincerity, 
and  I  will  try  only  the  more  to  put  his  convictions  right. 
Sincerity  neither  consecrates  sin  nor  canonizes  error. 

Where,  then,  is  thy  brother  ?  No  apology,  no  excuse,  is 
satisfactory  to  show  that  you  have  not  duties,  obligations, 
responsibilities  to  him.  And  God  only  knows  how  much 
of  the  darkness  that  is  in  the  lanes  and  alleys  of  this  great 
city,  how  much  of  the  heathenism  that  grows  and  thickens 
and  deepens  like  a  dark  cloud  over  us,  may  be  the  result 
of  our  apathy,  or  our  indifference,  for  which,  in  the  sight 
of  God,  we  are  all  and  each  responsible  to  him. 

But  suppose,  without  reference  to  possible  objections 
such  as  I  have  stated,  I  try  to  answer  the  question,  "  Where 
is  thy  brother  ?  " 

First,  let  me  answer  it,  if  I  may  so  speak,  geographically. 
Where  is  thy  brother  ?  He  is  under  Africa's  sun,  or  he  is 
just  living,  and  no  more,  amid  polar  snows.  He  is  amid 
the  steppes  of  Tartary,  —  a  savage;  or  amid  the  swarthy 
millions  of  Asia,  —  a  devotee  to  superstition.  Ignorant  he 
is  also  in  all  cases  of  God ;  his  workshop,  the  birthplace  of 
his  deities  ;  his  religion,  superstition ;  his  soul,  without  God, 
without  Christ,  and  without  hope.  And  yet,  that  African, 
so  bigoted,  is  thy  brother;  that  Tartar,  so  savage,  is  thy 
brother ;  that  worshipper  of  the  wooden  god  in  the  little 
"  swamy  house,"  as  they  call  it,  in  Hindostan  is  thy  brother ; 
11* 


126  THE  cnuiicn  before  the  flood. 

and  tliere  is  a  link  between  that  dark  heathen  and  thee, 
which  will  only  appear  more  luminous  and  real  amid  the 
light  of  a  judgment-day. 

But  let  me  look  at  the  answer  in  another  point  of  view ; 
let  me  look  at  the  answer  to  the  question  in  a  religious 
aspect.  Where  is  thy  brother  ?  He  has  left  his  slippers 
at  the  door,  and  he  is  prostrate  on  the  floor  of  the  mosque 
of  Omar  at  Jerusalem,  or  the  mosque  of  St.  Sophia  at  Con- 
stantinople ;  and  his  prayers,  and  praise,  and  creed  are  all 
in  one  fervent  expression,  — "  God  is  great,  and  Mahomet 
is  his  prophet."  Or  he  is  at  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  where 
the  superstition  is  only  revealed  more  palpably  by  the  scat- 
tered lights  of  truth  that  are  in  it.  In  either  case,  that 
w^orshipper  who  counts  his  beads  on  the  floor  of  St.  Peter's, 
or  that  Moslem  who  shouts  "  God  is  great,  and  Mahomet  is 
his  prophet,"  on  the  floor  of  St.  Sophia's,  is  thy  brother; 
and  a  responsibility  towards  him  rests  upon  us,  which  we 
can  no  more  shake  ourselves  loose  from  than  we  can  shake 
off  our  immortality,  or  escape  the  certainty  of  our  appear- 
ance at  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.  Or,  perhaps,  I  might 
answer  it  in  another  way.  He  is  in  some  dark  lane,  or  in 
some  miserable  hovel  in  the  streets  of  some  great  city,  with 
a  large  family,  with  a  very  small  weekly  income,  living  in  a 
place  where  fresh  air  is  a  complete  stranger,  where  the 
police-man  is  the  most  frequent  visitor,  where  the  drainage 
is  so  bad  that  the  absence  of  cholera  is  a  miracle,  its  pres- 
ence a  matter  of  course ;  he  has  a  wife  and  many  children, 
he  has  no  means  of  j^roviding  sufiiciently  for  their  food, 
much  less  the  means  of  providing  for  their  education. 
These  children  will  be  found  on  a  Sunday  morning,  and  on 
a  Saturday  evening,  hanging  about  the  streets  in  clusters, 
the  ripe  victims  for  the  jail,  or  the  police  station,  or  —  not 
an  inactive  operator  in  such  cases — -the  Roman  Catholic 
priest.     Those  children  are  our  children,  that  father  is  our 


MISSIONARY   DUTY.  .127 

brother  ;  and  the  very  knowledge  that  he  cannot  help  him- 
self, nor  his  children,  entails  instant  responsibility  upon  us 
to  lend  him  a  helping  hand,  and  to  provide  for  those  chil- 
•  dren  a  suitable  school.  If  we  say,  We  cannot  accept  it ; 
then  we  shall  be  made  to  feel  it.  Do  you  think  that  your 
taxes  become  lighter,  because  you  escape  giving  a  sovereign 
to  our  schools?  We  shall  find  that  the  most  expensive 
treatment  of  all  is  that  by  the  police-man,  and  the  jail,  and 
the  penal  colony ;  and  that  the  most  economical  treatment 
for  a  nation  to  pursue,  is  to  work  through  the  school,  the  city 
missionary,  the  tract  distributor,  the  district  visitor. 

We  shall  soon  discover  that,  not  only  is  it  the  most  eco- 
nomical, but  it  is  the  most  healthy  mode.  You  never  can 
elevate  a  people  physically,  unless  contemporaneously  you 
elevate  them  morally.  I  am  one  of  those  who  believe  that 
there  is  a  vast  work  to  be  done  in  raising  the  physical  con- 
dition of  the  people  around  us,  before  a  great  and  trium- 
phant work  can  be  done  in  doing  good  for  their  souls.  Posi- 
tively, to  go  into  some  of  the  homes,  and  to  speak  about  the 
soul  while  the  body  is  diseased,  and  struggling  with  hunger, 
without  fire,  and  without  shelter,  and  without  a  pane  of 
glass,  in  the  cold  and  biting  frost  of  winter,  is  impossible. 
You  usLUSt  first  find  a  blanket  to  cover,  and  bread  to  eat ; 
and  then  you  will  get  a  willing  ear  for  the  things  that 
belong  to  his  soul.  I  believe  that  the  moment  a  city  mis- 
sionary, a  tract  distributor,  or  a  Sunday-school  teacher  is 
introduced,  and  the  moment  that  these  children,  accustomed 
to  all  that  is  base  and  darkening  in  human  society,  are 
brought  within  the  elevating,  the  ennobling,  and  the  sancti- 
fying influence  of  Christian  instruction,  you  strike  a  blow 
that  will  make  the  wilderness  about  you  rejoice,  and  its 
most  desert  places  to  blossom  even  as  the  rose. 

Where  is  then  thy  brother  ?  He  is  the  stray  sheep  that 
has  gone  from  the  fold,  he  is  the  poor  prodigal  feeding  upon 


128  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

husks.  And  if  you  want  to  see  what  thy  brother  is,  leave  the 
picturesque  description  of  the  poet,  close  the  beautiful  ro- 
mance, open  the  Scriptures,  hear  the  verdict  of  Him  who  died 
for  human  nature,  what  is  the  condition  of  human  nature,  —  a 
lost  sheep,  a  wandering  prodigal,  an  infidel  Sadducee,  a 
hypocritical  Pharisee,  —  perishing,  dying,  beyond  the  sound 
of  light,  and  life,  and  truth,  —  and  you  will  behold  what  a 
brother  is.  And  if  you  want  to  see  a  sister,  read  the  tale  of 
the  Turkish  wife,  study  the  picture  of  the  Indian  mother, 
or  the  life  of  the  Hindoo  widow ;  and  in  that  Turkish  wife, 
in  that  Indian  mother,  in  that  Hindoo  widow,  you  have  the 
picture  of  your  sister.  When  you  ask,  where  is  thy 
brother  ?  or  where  is  thy  sister  ?  know  that  the  broad  road 
that  leads  to  ruin  is  beaten  smooth  by  brothers'  and  sis-ters' 
feet.  The  prison,  the  penal  settlement,  the  Old  BaiFey,  the 
Penitentiary,  the  tread-mill,  the  model  prison  —  every  cell 
of  them  is  filled  with  those  that  are  our  brothers  and  our 
sisters.  That  home  of  poverty  where  all  man's  original 
affections  are  abased  or  broken,  —  that  squalid  hovel  where 
horrid  appetite  alone  holds  lis  terrible  supremacy,  where 
fancy  sheds  no  beauty,  wliere  faith  creates  no  purity,  where 
hope  gives  no  consolation,  where  holiness  has  no  sanctuary, 
where  prayer  has  no  altar,  and  the  Sabbath  has  no  ser- 
vice,—  that  squalid  home  where  the  sun  rises  upon  no 
morning  prayer,  and  sets  upon  no  evening  praise,  where 
intemperance  makes  man  a  fiend  and  woman  a  wreck, 
where  beauty  is  turned  to  corruption,  and  all  the  gladness 
and  the  glory  of  humanity  is  gone,  —  that  home  contains 
those  who  are  thy  brethren.  There,  rich  one,  —  there, 
great  one,  —  there,  noble  and  wealthy  one,  —  is  thy 
brother,  —  the  same  flesh,  the  same  blood  with  thyself, — 
just  what  thyself  would  have  been  if  thy  circumstances  had 
been  otherwise ;  and  where,  because  thy  circumstances  are 
different,  thou  art  called  upon  to  go  as  an  angel  of  light, 


MISSIONARY   DUTY.  129 

and  life,  and  mercy ;  and  to  rescue  man  from  the  brutality 
of  sin,  and  enfranchise  him  with  all  the  glory  and  the  free- 
dom of  the  children,  of  God.  Brothers  sow  our  fields, 
brothers  temper  the  steel  for  our  swords,  brothers  man  our 
ships,  brothers  fight  our  battles. 

Let  us  hail  in  humanity  one  grand  brotherhood,  as  we 
hail  in  Christianity  one  lofty  Fatherhood;  and  feel  that 
wherever  a  heart  beats,  there  is  a  brother  seeking  for  our 
sympathy,  our  assistance,  and  our  aid,  and  to  whom  all 
are  due. 

What  is  the  first  step  to  ennoble  man,  degraded  as  we 
have  just  now  spoken  of  him?  The  very  first  step  is  to 
treat  him  kindly.  The  very  plan  to  turn  the  earth  into  a 
hell,  is  to  go  near  a  brother  with  suspicion,  doubting  very 
much  what  he  says,  though  it  may  be  right  to  investigate ; 
suspecting  every  representation,  which  ought  indeed  to  be 
examined ;  acting  up^^n  the  wretched  principle,  which,  it 
has  been  said,  is  the  practice  of  our  Scotch  countrymen,  to 
suspect  him  to  be  a  thief,  and  then  wait  till  you  prove  him 
honest.  This  is  the  way  to  make  him  worse.  Suspect  him 
to  be  honest,  and  trust  him,  and  then  wait  and  see  if  he 
play  the  thief,  is  the  way  to  make  him  better.  To  begin  by 
suspecting  a  man  to  be  dishonest,  is  just  the  very  way  to 
make  him  worse.  You  turn  the  inoffensive  worm,  when  you 
tread  upon  it,  into  a  snake  that  will  instantly  rise  and  sting 
you  to  the  heart.  By  this  suspicion  you  tread  out  the  last 
sparks  of  confidence,  and  you  create  that  dense  and  terrible 
despair,  in  which  all  dark  deeds  are  perpetrated.  There  is " 
no  other  way  of  making  society  better,  than  the  old  way  of 
loving  it.  And  if  that  grand  principle  of  love  were  made 
the  visible  basis  of  all  our  movements  to  regenerate  society, 
our  i^rogress  would  be  much  more  rapid  and  complete, 
Yvliy  was  Christ  so  beloved  by  the  common  people  ?  when 
the  Pharisees  fled  from  him,  when  the  Sadducees  scoffed  at 


130        THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 

him,  it  is  said,  "the  common  people  heard  him  gladly." 
Because  in  that  Divine  heart  every  pang  and  sorrow  of 
man  found  a  resounding  echo.  Because  men  could  go  to 
Jesus,  and  feel  that  there  was  sympathy  there,  if  there  were 
sympathy  nowhere  in  the  world  besides. 

Do  not  let  any  outward  circumstances  repel  us  from  men. 
Sometimes  human  misfortune  becomes  so  dreadful  that 
disgust  is  excited,  where  there  ought  to  be  only  deeper  and 
more  penetrating  sympathy.  If  we  have  been  -made  to 
differ,  it  is  by  Him  whose  sovereignty  is  seen  in  all.  And 
because  circumstances  have  degraded  that  person  who  seeks 
our  charity  on  the  plea  that  he  is  a  brother,  do  not  think 
that  he  is  in  his  real  substance  a  worse  being  than  yourself. 
Kingly  men  are  found  at  looms,  and  at  mills,  and  in  shops. 
Queenly  women  are  found  among  seamstresses.  Noble 
hearts  beat  under  very  plebeian  rags.  The  difference 
between  the  diamond  that  is  set  in  ihe  queen's  crown  and 
the  diamond  that  is  buried  in  the  earth  is  simply  in  the 
polishing ;  all  the  difference  between  the  humblest  and  the 
most  degraded  poor  man,  and  the  most  exalted  prince  that 
sways  a  sceptre,  is  not  in  him,  but  out  of  him.  God  has 
made  us  all  of  one  flesh ;  and  the  readiest  way  to  make  our 
own  splendor  more  glorious  is  to  raise  our  brother  to  a 
participation  of  it.  And  if  you  can  say.  What  will  become 
of  the  world  when  all  become  diamonds,  and  when  all  are 
so  educated  that  they  will  not  work  ?  it  will  be  time  enough 
to  answer  that  question  when  the  result  has  taken  place ; 
and  if  they  should  all  be  diamonds,  why  then  it  will  be  an 
approximation  to  that  apocalyptic  temple,  which  is  built 
only  of  precious  stones ;  and  when  all  will  not  only  be 
brethren,  but  saints  by  grace,  and  heirs  of  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  of  his  Christ.  Never  does  greatness  appear  so 
great  as  when  it  lends  a  portion  of  itself  to  make  littleness 
somewhat  less.    Never  does  wealth  appear  so  holy  as  when 


MISSIONARY   DUTY.  131 

it  is  consecrated  to  make  the  miserable  happy,  and  the 
ignorant  to  learn  the  truth  which  alone  makes  free.  It  is 
said  in  classic  history,  that  a  statuary,  who  resolved  to  cut 
out  of  the  Parian  marble  a  female  figure,  the  most  beautiful 
and  graceful  that  the  world  ever  saw  or  the  poet  ever 
dreamed  of,  induced  all  the  beauties  of  Greece  to  come  to 
him  in  succession,  while  he  selected  from  each  the  feature 
that  was  in  the  highest  perfection,  and  transferred  it  to  the 
marble  on  which  he  was  working ;  and  when  this  beautiful 
thing  was  finished,  it  became  the  admiration  of  Greece  and 
of  the  utmost  bound  of  Europe.  But  each  Greek  female 
felt  that  she  was  honored  by  having  some  feature  of  her 
own  in  that  exquisite  creation  of  the  statuary's  chisel.  So, 
when  you  can  look  into  our  schools,  when  you  can  look  into 
society,  and  feel  that  some  portion  of  it  is,  by  grace,  the  crea- 
tion, under  God,  of  what  you  have  sacrificed  and  done,  you 
will  have  more  tlian  a  reward  in  the  result,  and  you  will 
know  and  taste  a  happiness  you  never  tasted  before,  —  the 
inestimable  luxury  of  having  done  good. 

But  there  are  those  who  have  no  doubt  of  these  things, 
who  feel  a  sympathy  with  a  brother  wherever  that  brother 
is.  Such  will  regard  it  as  one  pf  the  best  and  noblest 
expressions  of  their  sympathy  to  aid  in  educating  the 
young.  Those  children  in  the  lanes  and  alleys  of  St. 
Giles'  are  not  vile  weeds  to  be  trodden  down,  or  cast  into 
the  fire,  or  thrown  to  Botany  Bay  across  the  sea  into  your 
neighbor's  garden.  They  are  but  trampled  flowers, — 
flowers  as  beautiful  as  those  that  grow  in  your  own 
sheltered  garden,  if  they  had  the  same  soil,  and  the  same 
sun,  and  the  same  sweet  air :  and  all  we  ask  is,  that  you 
would  just  gather  up  those  trodden-down  flowers,  and 
replace  them  under  the  beams  of  the  true  Sun,  that  you 
would  put  them  in  a  wholesome  srir  ;  and  they  will  become 
yet  the  ornaments,  where   now  they  are  the  pests  of  the 


132  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

neighborhood ;  and  will  be  transplanted  into  the  Paradise 
of  God,  and  under  the  shadow  and  the  shelter  of  the  Tree 
of  Life  that  grows  in  the  midst  of  it.  The  children  of 
today  are  the  future  inhabitants  of  our  different  colonies ; 
and  if  we  send  them  out  converted  and  Christianized, 
instead  of  being  repealers  of  the  connection  between  the 
parent  country  and  the  distant  colonies,  they  will  be  indis- 
soluble links  between  them :  these  children  will  be  the 
champions  of  a  throne  under  the  shadow  of  which  they 
have  been  blessed,  and  sticklers  for  the  national  institutions 
which  have  been  to  them  springs  of  refreshment ;  we  shall 
look  back  upon  the  schools  we  have  built,  and  the  sacrifices 
we  have  made,  with  a  joy  far^greater  than  that  with  which 
a  student  looks  back  upon  his  college,  or  an  architect  upon 
his  magnificent  creation,  or  the  sentimentalist  upon  the 
beautiful  cathedral,  or  the  statesman  upon  successful  policy : 
for  in  such  cases  we  have  been  instrumental  in  adding 
subjects  to  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  building  up  living 
temples  that  will  last  for  ever  and  for  ever. 

If  we  let  the  stray  children  alone,  if  we  say,  We  will  not 
be  the  keepers  of  them,  Satan  will  not  let  them  alone,  he 
will  keep  them ;  the  emissaries  of  socialism,  and  infidelity, 
and  superstition  will  not  let  them  alone,  they  Avill  look  after 
them ;  the  gaol  will  not  let  them  alone,  it  will  hold  them. 
And  what,  I  ask,  is  more  awful  than  to  see  some  dozen 
children,  seven  or  ten  years  of  age,  brought  into  a  police 
court,  because  they  have  done  what  they  scarcely  had  an 
idea  of  being  wrong ;  because  they  have  picked  a  pocket, 
which  they  thought  just  as  natural  as  to  eat  a  dinner  ? 
And  because  they  have  done  this,  they  are  seized  and  sent 
to  Bridewell;  and  what  is  the  result?  They  are  lost; 
none  will  take  them  into  the  shop  as  apprentices,  or  into 
our*  houses  as  servants  ;  they  are  indelibly  branded.  Can 
you  wonder  that  they  grow  up  more  confirmed  and  des- 


MISSIONARY   DUTY.  133 

perate  criminals  ?  Now,  if  that  child,  instead  of  being  left 
to  pursue  the  habits  of  the  wicked  men  by  whom  it  is 
surrounded,  had  been  admitted  among  the  children  of  day 
and  Sunday-schools,  instead  of  growing  up  a  burden  on  our 
taxes,  a  curse  to  our  country,  and  miserable,  oh  deeply 
miserable  to  itself,  it  might  have  grown  up  a  blessing,  a 
benefactor,  an  ornament  in  the  land  to  which  it  belongs. 

It  may  be,  that  some  past  word  one  of  us  has  spoken  is 
at  this  moment  reverberating  in  some  dark  lane  of  London. 
Some  dark  deed  that  you  have  done  may  at  this  moment  be 
casting  its  baleful  shadow  ov^r  some  home,  or  family,  or 
neighborhood,  or  parish.  Something  that  you  have  said,  or 
patronized,  some  course  you  have  pursued,  may  be  leaving 
disastrous,  poisonous,  soul-destroying  effects  in  some  place 
that  memory  may  forget,  but  that  conscience  will  one  day 
feel.  Then,  you  are  verily  guilty  concerning  your  brother; 
you  are  guilty,  not  of  neglecting  him,  but  in  that  you  have 
poisoned  him.  Then,  what  is  to  be  done?  The  word 
cannot  be  unspoken,  the  deed  cannot  be  undone,  the  shadow 
cannot  be  recalled ;  but  you  may  redeem  the  time,  you  may 
repent  of  the  sin,  you  may  make  the  reparation  that  you 
can,  and  that  reparation  is,  by  laboring  to  counteract  the 
evil  you  have  left,  by  the  good,  the  beneficence,  and  the 
truth  that  you  now  apply  through  that  instrumentality 
which  is  nearest,  readiest,  and  most  effective  for  the  purpose. 
Where  then  is  thy  brother?  may  suggest  recollections  of 
the  past  as  well  as  duties  for  the  present. 

In  looking  at  this  solemn  subject  immediately  before  us, 
one  of  the  first  feelings  that  we  ought  to  entertain  on  a 
retrospect  of  what  we  have  done,  and  what  we  have  left 
undone,  is  that  of  true  and  genuine  repentance.  "  We  are 
verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother,"  is  the  language  that 
becomes  us  all. 

And,  in  the  next  place,  the  way  to  show  that  genuine 
12 


134  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

repentance  is  to  commit  ourselves  to  every  beneficent  effort 
to  spread  the  truth  that  elevates,  the  religion  that  reclaims, 
the  principles  that  save.  Suppose  we  do  not  yet  see  from 
the  schools  we  aid,  or  the  missions  we  support,  a  single  good 
result,  that  would  be  no  reason  for  our  withdrawing  our 
support.  "We  are  very  prone  to  judge  of  duty  by  visible 
effects.  I  do  not  believe  that  either  sudden  conversion  or 
sudden  good  is  always  the  most  substantial  and  enduring. 
God's  great  law  is,  "  One  soweth  and  another  reapeth."  I 
am  not  responsible  for  the  soil ;  God  alone  can  change  it. 
I  am  not  responsible  for  the  harvest ;  God  will  take  care  of 
it.  All  that  I  am  responsible  for  is  sowing  the  seed.  Man's 
is  the  terrestrial  labor,  God's  promise  is  the  celestial  bless- 
ing. Let  each  do  his  duty,  and  leave  God  to  crown  that 
duty  with  success.  And  is  not  this  illustrated  in  our  own 
experience  ?  We  are  reaping  at  this  moment  blessings  that 
our  forefathers  have  sown.  Their  labors  had  no  instant 
success.  Pentecost  itself,  when  so  many  thousands  M^ere 
converted  in  one  day,  —  I  do  not  believe  that  Pentecost 
was  the  harvest  of  the  seed  that  Peter  sowed  that  day. 
Our  common  impression,  when  we  read  the  Acts,  is,  that 
Peter's  sermon  was  so  blessed  that  it  produced  a  Pentecost. 
I  believe  that  Peter's  sermon  merely  brought  to  a  focus 
lights  that  w^ere  already  struggling  and  scattered  in  ^he 
minds  of  his  hearers ;  and  that  Pentecost  was  the  result  of 
all  that  Jesus  did,  and  taught,  and  said,  as  well  as  what  the 
Apostles  preached ;  in  short,  that  Peter  only  struck  the  last 
blow,  which  was  the  crowning  one.  The  Reformation  itself 
of  the  sixteenth  century  was  not  the  creation  of  Martin 
Luther.  He  sowed;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  also 
reaped  what  had  been  sown  by  reformers  long  before  him. 
And  when  you  hear  of  sudden  conversions  attributed  to  one 
sermon,  you  may  depend  upon  it,  it  was  not  the  result  of 
that  single  sermon ;  the  seed  had  been  sown  by  the  dead. 


MISSIONARY   DUTY.   <  135 

by  those  tJiat  have  gone  to  their  rest,  —  sown  ten,  twenty 
years  before ;  and  then,  that  last  sermon  put  every  thing  in 
that  light  that  God  blessed  it,  and  made  it  the  crowning  and 
the  triumphant  one.  So,  we  must  be  satisfied  to  sow  bless- 
ings that  others  shall  reap.  And  no  one  can  calculate  the 
practical  results  of  sowing  in  the  infant  mind  the  seeds  of  a 
Christian  and  a  thorough  education.  The  seeds  will  grow 
up  in  after  years,  when  the  early  lesson  book,  and  the  first 
school,  are  utterly  forgotten.  I  believe  that  the  great  hope 
under  God  for  the  regeneration  of  society,  as  far  as  it  can 
be  regenerated  in  the  present  dispensation,  is  less  in  the 
preaching  of  the  pulpit,  and  more  in  the  teaching  of  the 
school.  The  preacher  finds  men  all  hard,  sharp,  defined ; 
but  the  teacher  finds  children  ductile,  easily  impressed,  to 
whom  he  may  give  a  tone,  a  direction,  and  an  impulse, 
which  time  will  not  easily  alter.  Our  ministers  teach 
lessons  that  may  be  soon  foKgotten ;  but  our  teachers  train 
the  young,  —  and  that  training  will  give  a  bias,  a  habit,  an 
inclination,  not  soon  let  go.  But  the  question  is  not,  whether 
our  children,  or  the  children  in  the  streets,  shall  be  trained ; 
for  it  will  very  soon  be  seen  that  if  they  are  not  trained  in 
our  schools,  they  are  being  trained  on  the  streets ;  if  they 
are  not  trained  by  our  teachers,  they  are  by  pickpockets 
and  thieves ;  if  they  are  not  being  trained  in  the  Bible, 
they  are  trained  in  the  sharpest  methods  of  transferring 
other  people's  property  to  their  own  credit  or  behalf.  And 
therefore,  it  is  not  a  question  whether  they  shall  be  trained ; 
the  question  is,  whetlier  they  sli^ll  be  trained  aright,  or 
wrong.  How  they  have  been  trained  will  soon  make  itself 
apparent  by  the  channels  in  which  their  future  life  will  run. 
Those  channels  will  contain  either  the  fruitful  river,  with 
the  green  verdure  and  the  fragrant  blossom  on  its  banks,  or 
the  devastating  torrents  in  the  barren  gully,  that  destroy 
and  tear  down  every  thing.     And  who  knows,  but  from  the 


H 


136  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

coming  wrecks  of  nations  there  may  be  reflected  our  sins  ? 
Never  let  us  forget  tliat  the  crimes  of  1853  may  be  the 
rebound  of  our  neglect  in  1852.  We  are  linked  to  future 
generations ;  we  are  responsible  for  those  generations  in  the 
sight  of  God.  I  know  that,  where  we  do  not  see  very 
grand  results,  we  are  very  apt  to  misjudge.  How  magnifi- 
cent was  the  Crystal  Palace !  how  grand  were  the  produc- 
tions of  Austria !  how  delicate  were  the  fabrics  of  France ! 
how  manly  and  massive  were  the  creations  of  our  father- 
land !  and  we  said.  What  a  wonderful  thing  was  that  fairy 
palace !  Angels  on  their  wings,  as  they  proceed  on  their 
errands  of  mercy,  may  have  swept  past  the  fairy  palace  in 
Hyde  Park,  as  a  very  poor  and  paltry  thing;  and  may 
have  given  their  attention  to  the  seven  or  eight  hundred 
children  connected  with  some  school,  and  there  have  seen  a 
moral  spectacle  of  beauty  and  of  grandeur,  which  no  genius 
of  man's  mind  can  create.  We  too  have  diamonds  to  show, 
in  our  ragged  schools,  —  rough,  I  admit,  some  of  them  very 
rough;  but  capable  of  exquisite  polish,  and  meant  yet, 
through  the  blessing  of  God,  to  hold  places  in  the  diadem 
of  the  King  of  kings,  when  the  Koh-i-noor,  the  most  mag- 
nificent diamond  of  the  Crystal  Palace,  shall  be  ground  to 
powder,  and  swept  away  amid  the  debris  of  the  things  of 
the  earth.  Let  us  then  see  in  a  work  a  magnificence  last- 
ing in  proportion  as  it  is  moral.  The  builder  builds  for  a 
century ;  we  for  eternity.  The  painter  paints  for  a  genera- 
tion ;  we,  for  ever.  The  poet  sings  for  an  age ;  we,  for 
ever.  The  statuary  cuts  out  the  marble  that  soon  perishes ; 
let  us  try  to  cut  out  the  likeness  of  Christ  to  endure  for 
ever  and  ever.  A  hundred  thousand  men  were  employed 
in  Egypt  to  construct  a  pyramidal  tomb  for  a  dead  king ; 
let  us  feel  that  we  are  engaged  in  a  far  nobler  work  in  con- 
structing temples  for  the  living  God.  In  my  humble  judg- 
ment, the  poorest  parish  school  in  our  native  land,  with  no 


MISSIONARY   DUTY.  137 

other  ornaments  than  the  dew-drops  of  the  morning  to  gild 
it,  and  the  sunbeams  to  shine  upon  it,  is  a  nobler  spectacle 
than  the  loftiest  European  cathedral,  with  its  spires  glisten- 
ing in  the  setting  and  the  rising  suns  of  a  thousand  years. 
We  estimate  the  magnificence  of  a  thing  not  by  its  exterior 
beauty,  which  is  evanescent,  but  by  its  inner  contents,  and 
its  ultimate  moral  effects,  which  endure  for  ever  and  for 
ever. 


12 


CHAPTER   VIII. 


THE   PKOTOMARTYR. 

"  Flung  to  the  heedless  winds, 
Or  on  the  waters  cast, 
Their  ashes  shall  be  watched, 
And  gathered  at  the  last. 

"  And  from  that  scattered  dust. 
Around  us  and  abroad 
Shall  spring  a  plenteous  seed 
Of  witnesses  for  God. 

"  Still,  still,  though  dead  they  speak, 
And  trumpet-tongued  proclaim. 
To  many  a  wakening  land. 
The  one  availing  name." 

"  By  faith  Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain,  by 
which  he  obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,  God  testifying  of  his 
gifts:  and  by  it  he  being  dead  yet  speaketh."  — Heb.  xi.  4. 

It  is  remarkable  that,  after  the  Fall,  Adam  psCSses  away. 
His  name  is  no  more  mentioned,  his  biography  is  no  more 
told ;  nor,  except  in  connection  with  great  truths,  and  the 
mode  of  the  sinner's  acceptance  by  the  second  Adam,  is  he 
referred  to  at  all. 

We  trace  what  Adam  was  by  his  image,  too  faithfully 
developed  by  his  progeny ;  among  them  it  is  reflected  even 
in  its  most  terrible  proportions  and  shape.  The  first  evi- 
dence of  Adam's  sin  after  the  Fall  was  the  quarrel  of  two 
brothers.  Its  first  direct  fruit  was  murder,  "  Cain  rose  up, 
and  slew  his  brother  Abel."     So  that  we  see  sin  after  the 


THE    PROTOMARTYR.  139 

Fall  —  sin  and  death  -—  redemption  and  life.  "  In  the  day 
that  thou  eatest  thereof  thou  shalt  surely  die  "  was  literally 
fulfilled;  "The  woman's  seed  shall  bruise  the  serpent's 
head,"  was  no  less  strictly  illustrated  in  the  faith,  the  confi- 
dence, the  meekness,  the  martyrdom  of  righteous  Abel. 

Both  brothers  recognized  the  duties  and  the  obligations 
of  Christian  worship.  Their  trades  are  specified  in  rela- 
tion to  the  outward  world ;  their  jDractices  are  also  here 
recorded  with  respect  to  religion.  How  were  they  taught 
the  truths  of  religion  ?  How  did^  Abel  know  there  was  a 
God.-^  How  did  Cain  follow  out  and  exercise  his  con- 
victions in  worshipping  a  God?  There  was  no  written 
revelation,  no  Bible,  to  which  they  could  appeal.  The  only 
way  in  which  they  were  taught  was  in  that  first  school,  — 
which  is  after  all  the  best,  —  the  fireside ;  and  under  those 
first  teachers,  —  after  all,  the  most  affectionate,  —  Christian 
and  righteous  parents.  There  they  learned  that  there  was 
a  God ;  that  their  first  duties  consisted  in  adoration  of  him, 
and  in  loyalty  and  allegiance  to  him.  Even  Cain,  though 
he  had  no  heart  filled  with  the  fear  of  God,  had  been  so 
drilled  and  habituated  to  the  outward  practice,  that  when 
his  heart  apostatized  from  God,  his  hand  still  persisted  in 
presenting  an  offering  to  God,  —  so  important  is  early  habit. 
The  first  impression  made  upon  a  child  often  gives  tone  to 
his  whole  after-life.  The  least  seed  sown  in  infancy  grows 
up  and  bears  its  fruit  in  grey  hairs  and  in  old  age.  Habit, 
even  man  has  remarked  in  his  aphorisms,  is  a  second  na- 
ture; and  when  that  habit  is  in  a  right  direction,  and 
endowed  and  blessed  of  God,  there  is  nothing  so  lasting, 
nothing  so  beneficial. 

God  accepted  the  offering  of  Abel,  and  did  not  accept  the 
offering  of  Cain.  We  learn  here,  at  least,  that  all  religion, 
however  outwardly  and  apparently  good,  is  not  equally 
acceptable  with   God.      Both  these  brothers  recognized  a 


140  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

God.  Both  recognized  and  practised  the  duty  of  worship- 
ping that  God.  Both  of  them  were  —  as  the  world  would 
say,  looking  at  the  outward  aspect  —  rehgious  men;  and 
yet,  there  Ivas  a  vast  difference  where  men  saw  none,  and 
God's  acceptance  of  the  one,  and  his  rejection  of  the  other, 
showed  that  that  difference  was  a  vital  one.  It  is  not  true, 
that  if  a  man  worship  God,  it  matters  not  whether  he  be 
Mahometan,  or  Romanist,  or  Protestant,  or  Socinian.  There 
is  an  inner  difference  that  God  sees,  when  man  can  see  no 
outer  one.  Cain  brought  his  offering  first,  and  showed  the 
greatest  zeal,  as  far  as  we  can  judge  ;  and  yet,  Abel's  was 
an  accepted  offering,  and  Cain's  a  rejected  offering.  "What 
we  believe  is  as  important  as  what  we  do;  and  a  wrong 
faith  leads  God  to  reject  the  possessor  of  it.  A  true  faith 
leads  the  possessor  of  it  to  offer  an  acceptable  sacrifice  unto 
God. 

The  Church  of  Christ  was  in  the  beginning  just  what  it 
is  now,  and  will  be  to  the  end,  till  the  great  Lord  of  it  come, 
and  put  all  right  —  a  mixed  church.  Here  is  the  first 
church.  Cain  and  Abel  had  no  magnificent  cathedrals  to 
meet  in.  They  had  no  beautiful  architectural  church. 
They  had  no  outward  conventional,  established  ceremony, 
or  rite,  or  liturgy,  or  psalm,  or  hymn.  There  were  none  of 
these  things ;  and  yet  there  was  a  church ;  there  was  true 
worship,  and  false  worship ;  there  was  the  first  congregation 
of  professors  and  believers  of  the  gospel  of  Christ.  What 
the  church  was  then,  it  has  been,  and  will  be  to  the  end. 
This  succession  has  never  lost  a  link  —  the  succession  of 
Cain,  and  the  succession  of  Abel.  Then  the  tares  grew  in 
the  same  field  with  the  wheat ;  the  bad  fish  in  the  same  net 
with  the  good;  the  sheep  and  the  goats  will  browse  to- 
gether, till  the  great  Shepherd  come,  and  put  the  one  upon 
his  right,  and  the  other  upon  his  left.  Yet,  if  we  refuse  to 
join  a  church  till  we  find  a  pure  one,  we  shall  have  to  wait 


THE    PROTOMAKTYR.  141 

till  the  millennium.  It  is  not  to  be  in  this  dispensation. 
The  great  Master  speaks  to  many  a  hot  zealot  in  such  ten- 
der and  glorious  words  as  these :  "  Do  not  go  in  your  zeal  to 
pull  up  the  tares,  lest  in  pulling  them  up,  you  pull  up  the 
wheat  also :  let  both  grow  together  till  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  come."  It  is  each  man's  duty  to  see  that  his  heart 
is  right  with  God,  to  be  far  more  anxious  to  know  what  is 
in  me  than  what  is  around  me,  to  have  more  introspection 
into  his  own  conscience,  to  see  if  that  be  right  in  his  own 
sight,  rather  than  to  have  a  cautious,  critical  investigation  to 
see  whether  A  is  what  he  should  be,  or  whether  B  is  what 
he  professes.  The  church  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  are  told,  is  a 
mixed  body,  and  it  will  continue  to  be  so  till  One,  having 
the  authority,  make  the  separation. 

The  place  of  worship  is  nothing,  the  worshippers  are  all. 
Our  Lord  has  most  truly  defined  it,  "  Wherever  two  or  three 
are  met  in  my  name  "  —  and  Cain  and  Abel  met  in  Christ's 
name,  they  were  professed  followers,  one  a  true,  and  the 
other  not  a  true,  follower  of  Christ  —  "  Wheresoever  two  or 
three  meet  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them." 
Now  this  is  the  root  of  a  Christian  church.  All  beyond  this 
is  development  for  convenience,  for  order,  for  decency,  for 
use  ;  but  the  first  Christian  church  —  the  normal  idea  of  a 
Christian  church  —  is,  "  Where  two  or  three  are  met  in  my 
name."  The  architect  builds  the  house;  but  unless  the 
queen  consent  to  dwell  in  it,  it  is  not  a  palace.  The  builder 
raises  the  cathedral;  but  unless  the  Lord  of  glory  come 
down  and  consecrate  it,  it  is  no  church.  It  is  not  dead 
stones,  it  is  not  carved  rafters,  it  is  not  exquisite  imagery, 
that  makes  a  church ;  but  it  is  a  company  of  men  Avho  fear 
and  love  the  Saviour,  meet  in  his  name,  rely  on  his  inter- 
cession, and  seek  his  blessing.  There  is  a  church,  whether 
it  meet  in  a  barn,  in  a  dungeon,  in  the  catacombs  of  Rome, 
on  the  hill-side,  on  the  highway  —  there  is  a  true  church  of 


142  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

tlie  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  visible  church,  then,  began 
thus  early.  The  Christian  church  is  not  the  creation  of 
Martin  Luther,  of  Paul,  of  Isaiah,  or  of  Abraham;  it 
began  the  instant  sin  and  grace  were  introduced  in  the 
world.  Its  external  names  have  varied,  but  the  thing  has 
been  the  same.  As  it  is,  for  instance,  with  men,  who  are 
called  Greeks,  and  Romans,  and  Jews,  so  are  they  called 
Christians,  and  Protestants ;  but  it  is  man  running  through 
all  —  the  great  aboriginal  thing  that  is  in  all,  that  jcannot  be 
separated  from  any.  So  we  have  the  Christian  church,  the 
Patriarchal  church,  the  Jewish  church,  the  Protestant 
church ;  but  it  is  the  same  church  with  different  names,  and 
different  phases,  presenting  different  aspects.  We  have  the 
Red  Sea,  the  Black  Sea,  the  White  Sea,  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  the  German  Ocean,  the  Atlantic ;  but  it  is  the  same  sea 
in  its  different  relations  locking  and  interlocking  with  the 
dry  land.  It  was  the  church  of  Christ  when  Abel  was  its 
minister,  its  true  son,  and  its  martyr.  The  Christian  church 
now  has  different  forms  and  aspects ;  but  it  is  the  same 
church,  because  the  same  substantial  creed,  the  same 
Saviour,  the  same  Lord,  and  the  same  hope. 

I  look  now  at  the  respective  sacrifices.  Why  was  Cain's 
rejected?  Why  was  Abel's  accepted?  I  answer,  Cain's 
was  rejected  because  he  had  not  faith.  But,  it  is  said, 
reject  a  man  and  his  soul  because  he  has  not  a  form  of 
belief!  It  was  because  he  did  not  believe  in  things  unseen, 
and  things  hoped  for;  because  he  did  not  believe  in  a 
Saviour,  because  he  did  not  believe  that  the  woman's  seed 
should  bruise  the  serpent's  head  —  the  great  promise  that 
God  made  amid  the  wrecks  of  Paradise,  and  gilded  its 
decay  with  an  aureole  of  unearthly  glory.  "  The  woman's 
seed  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head ; "  that  is.  There  is  a 
coming  Saviour.  Now  Abel  had  faith  in  this ;  Cain  had  no 
faith  in  this ;  and  if  no  belief  in  Christ,  then  no  belief  or 


I 


THE    PROTOMARTYR.  143 

faith  in  sin,  and  in  the  depth,  and  dye,  and  wickedness  of 
sin.  In  fact,  Cain,  to  use  a  modern  expression,  ignored  the 
Fall.  He  rejected  the  Fall  as  a  thing  that  had  not  been ; 
or,  as  many  people  do  now  regard  the  promise  of  the 
Saviour,  as  a  fact  like  that  of  Alexander  the  Great,  an 
historical  person  with  whom  they  have  no  connection.  He 
looked  upon  the  world  as  if  the  Fall  had  never  been,  as 
if  ruin  had  never  smitten  it,  and  as  if  all  things  were,  in 
his  day,  precisely  as  they  were  when  Adam  and  Eve 
walked  in  Paradise,  and  responded  to  the  voice  of  their 
Father,  whose  footsteps  they  heard  at  morning  and  at 
eventide.  We  not  only  gather  that  one  offered  by  faith  an 
acceptable  sacrifice,  and  the  other,  through  want  of  faith,  a 
rejected  sacrifice ;  but  we  gather  this  from  the  very  nature 
of  their  offerings.  Cain  took  of  the  fruits  and  flowers 
of  the  ground  and  offered  them  unto  God.  I  have  no 
doubt  that  this  was  one  of  Adam's  and  Eve's  offerings 
before  they  fell;  and  Cain  continued  the  same  practice, 
rejecting  the  fact  of  a  great  disruption,  treating  it  as  if 
it  had  never  been ;  and  therefore,  when  Cain  was  about 
to  offer  to  God,  he  walked  forth  at  the  sunrising,  and 
gathered  flowers,  not  yet  so  blasted  as  ours  are,  because 
sin  had  not  then  made  such  inroads  into  creation  as  it  has 
since  made.  He  gathered  the  most  beautiful  flowers  that 
still  grew  beneath  the  cherubim  that  guarded  the  gates  of 
Eden  from  access.  He  wove  these  flowers  into  a  garland ; 
he  laid  that  garland  upon  the  altar  of  God,  and  he  stood 
before  God,  and  said,  "  0  God,  thy  smiles  gave  to  these 
flowers  their  exquisite  tints.  Thy  breath,  O  God,  gave  to 
these  roses  this  delicious  fragrance.  Thy  fingers  and  thy 
great  wisdom  shaped  every  petal,  and  trimmed  it  as  ex- 
quisitely as  if  tliy  wisdom  had  nothing  else  to  do.  And  I 
take  these  flowers,  Great  Creator,  Great  Preserver,  and  I 
lay  them  upon  thy  altar,  as  an  offering  expressive  of  my 


144  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

belief  in  thee  as  the  Creator  of  all,  and  of  my  trust  in  thee 
as  the  Preserver  of  all.  Amen."  The  offering  was  rejected, 
and  the  offerer  too. 

Abel,  whose  trade  was  a  shepherd,  did  not  take  what 
Cain  took,  nor  did  he  join  in  Cain's  offering.  Abel  was  a 
Protestant,  protesting  against  the  service  of  Cain,  because 
a  wrong  one.  And,  therefore,  Abel,  when  he  offered  to 
God,  separated  the  firstlings  of  his  flock.  He  took,  in  otli3r 
words,  the  most  beautiful  and  the  most  liealthy  and  the 
most  unblemished  lamb  of  his  flock,  —  and  what  did  he  do  ? 
"What  human  nature,  at  the  first  blush,  would  have  recoiled 
from.  He  plunged  his  knife  into  that  innocent  creature's 
throat,  he  laid  it  a  victim  on  the  altar,  and  he  said,  "O 
God,  mj  Father,  with  my  brother  Cain,  I,  too,  own  thee  as 
my  Creator,  and  as  my  Preserver ;  but  I  go  further  than 
my  brother  Cain.  I  have  sinned.  O  Father,  sin  hath 
entered  into  the  world,  and  death  by  sin,  and  I  slay  this 
lamb  in  token  of  my  belief  that  I,  too,  deserve  to  die ;  and 
I  offer  this  my  lamb  to  thee  in  token  of,  and  to  prefigure, 
the  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  And  I 
look  to  thee,  0  God,  to  take  away  that  sin  which  must 
otherwise  sink  me  for  ever,  by  that  blood  which  must  be 
shed  in  the  fulness  of  time,  without  the  shedding  of  which 
there  is  no  remission,  and  by  the  cleansing  efficacy  of  which 
I  may  be  presented  before  thee  without  spot  or  blemish,  or 
any  such  thing."  God  accepted  Abel's  offering,  and  the 
offerer  too.  Now,  if  we  had  no  Bible  to  guide  us,  we 
should  say,  Cain  offered  the  most  beautiful  and  acceptable 
offering,  and  he  ought  to  have  been  accepted;  and  if 
ignorant  of  the  Bible,  we  should  say,  How  is  it  possible 
that  God  could  accept  the  painful  destruction  of  an  inno- 
cent and  inoffensive  lamb  ?  The  answer  is,  Cain's  offering 
showed,  if  we  had  not  the  record  of  the  text,  that  he  had 
no  faith  in  the  Fall,  or  in  the  entrance  of  sin,  or  in  the 


THE   PROTOMARTYR.  145 

promise  of  a  Saviour,  or  in  cleansing  through  his  blood. 
And  Abel's  offering  showed  that  he  had  faith,  or  believed  in 
death  by  sin,  and  accepted  by  faith  that  Saviour  slain  from 
the  foundation  of  the  world,  by  whose  blood,  Abel,  the  first 
martyr,  and  the  very  last  in  the  history  of  our  world,  must 
be  equally  cleansed  and  accepted  by  God. 

We  discover,  in  this  one  fact,  the  origin  of  animal  sacri- 
fices. "We  see  that  man,  left  to  his  own  suggestions,  would 
not  likely  have  thought  that  a  good  God  could  approve  of 
the  slaughter,  the  painful  slaughter,  of  an  inoffensive  ani- 
mal ;  that  it  must  therefore  have  been  taught  him  by  God, 
or  he  never  would  have  practised  it.  I  hold,  therefore,  that, 
in  heathen  countries,  where  animal  sacrifices  are  found,  we 
have  not  the  invention  of  man,  but  traditional  usages,  bor- 
rowed from  the  rubric  of  an  original  or  God-taught  age. 
That  it  was  so,  —  that  they  were  taught  by  God  to  offer 
these  sacrifices,  is  plain  from  this  one  fact,  —  Adam  and 
Eve  were  clothed,  we  are  told,  with  the  skins  of  animals. 
For  what  purpose  did  they  slay  these  animals  ?  They  did 
not  eat  flesh  till  after  the  Deluge ;  and  therefore  the  inevi- 
table inference  is,  that  these  animals  were  killed  for  sacri- 
fices ;  and  that  the  first  pair  were  clothed  with  their  skins, 
as  prefigurative  of  the  necessity  of  their  being  clothed  with 
the  spotless  robe  of  the  lamb,  slain  in  the  fulness  of  time, 
If  we  investigate  the  Levitical  economy,  we  shall  find  there, 
that  the  offering  of  lambs,  and  goats,  and  bullocks,  was  the 
every  day  duty  of  the  priests  of  God ;  that  it  was  a  divine 
appointment,  and  therefore  not  the  invention  of  man,  but 
the  inspiration  of  his  Maker.  God  had  no  more  pleasure 
in  the  slaughter  of  a  lamb  than  in  the  gathering  of  flowers 
—  one  would  suppose  less.  Evidently  therefore  these  vic- 
tims W3re  appointed  to  be  slain,  not  for  God's  sake,  but  for 
man's  sake ;  man  needed  to  have  it  riveted  in  his  very  soul, 
imprinted  deeply  on  his  heart,  by  seeing  constantly  the  very 
13 


146  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

fact,  that  without  shedding  of  blood  there  was  no  remission 
of  sins ;  and  that,  until  the  lamb  should  come,  in  the  fulness 
of  time,  in  whose  blood  there  would  be  redemption,  it 
would  be  his  duty  to  carry  on  these  prefigurative  services. 

Abel's  sacrifice  was  accepted,  because  of  his  belief  in 
these  great  truths;  Cain's  sacrifice  was  not  accepted,  be- 
cause of  his  disbelief  in  them.  In  other  words,  Cain's 
belief  was,  that  the  social  disturbances,  the  agonies  of 
nature,  and  the  world  waiting  to  be  delivered,  were  just  as 
they  should  be  —  the  normal  state  of  the  Avorld,  and  as  God 
meant  it  to  be.  In  a  word,  his  thoughts  were  those  of  some 
modern  sceptics,  only  they  have  expressed  them  with  much 
greater  eloquence,  that  "  all  things  are  in  a  state  of  perfect 
optimism ; "  that  they  were  never  better,  and  never  can  be ; 
whereas,  Abel's  belief  was,  that  God  made  all  things  holy 
and  happy,  peace  within  man's  conscience,  and  harmony 
without  in  man's  world ;  but  that  sin  had  entered,  and  death 
by  sin,  and  disturbed  the  world;  while  there  was  yet  a 
deliverer  to  come,  who  should  retrieve  creation  from  its 
ruin,  and  reinstate  man  in  his  primitive  relations  to  God. 
The  one  had  that  faith  which  beheved  God's  word ;  the  other 
had  that  faithlessness  which  believed  his  own  illogical  rea- 
soning, and  its  crude  inferences. 

We  see  from  all  this,  that  the  first  thing  to  be  accepted 
was  the  offerer ;  the  next  thing  was  the  offering.  It  is  not 
true  that  Abel  was  accepted  because  of  his  offering,  or  that 
Cain  was  rejected  because  of  his.  The  one  was  first 
accepted,  and  therefore  he  presented  an  acceptable  offering ; 
the  other  was  first  rejected,  and  therefore  he  presented  a 
rejected  sacrifice.  The  first  was  accepted  because  he  was  a 
believer  in  Christ,  and  his  offering  was  the  evidence  of  it. 
The  second  was  rejected  because  he  was  a  disbeliever  in 
Christ,  and  the  offering  that  he  presented  was  an  evidence 
that  he  was  such.     Their  offerings  were  the  evidences  of 


THE    PROTOMARTTR.  147 

their  respective  personal  states ;  God  accepted  the  one,  and 
rejected  the  other,  because  of  those  who  presented  them. 

We  learn  from  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  "  Abel 
obtained  witness  that  he  was  righteous,"  God  thus  testified 
that  he  was  righteous.  Our  blessed  Lord,  speaking  of  Abel 
in  the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  speaks  of  "  the  blood  of  right- 
eous Abel ; "  and  the  evangelist  John,  speaking  of  Abel  in 
his  Epistle,  speaks  of  Cain  slaying  Abel,  —  "And  where- 
fore slew  he  him?  Because  his  own  works  were  evil,  and 
his  brother's  righteous."  Now  in  what  respect  was  Abel 
accounted  righteous  ?  "  By  it  lie  received  the  testimony  that 
he  was  righteous,"  yet  a  righteousness  that  was  not  his  own, 
but  a  righteousness  that  was  imputed  to  him.  This  was  the 
great  standing  doctrine  of  the  Church  before  the  Flood,  this 
it  was  also  that  Martin  Luther  taught  at  the  dawn  of  Pro- 
testantism, that  we  are  counted  righteous  only  by  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  imputed  to  us  and  offered  to  us.  The 
great  sacrifice  that  Abel's  offering  foreshadowed  is  this,  that 
he  that  knew  no  sin  was  made  sin  for  us,  by  having  our  sins 
laid  upon  his  head,  that  we  who  are  sinners  might  be  made 
righteous  in  him,  by  having  his  righteousness  laid  upon  us. 
Jesus  Christ  in  our  place  bore  our  sins,  and  delivered  us 
from  the  curse  of  a  broken  law.  In  our  place  he  obeyed 
the  law,  and  .entitled  us  to  all'  the  blessings 'and  the  results 
of  an  obeyed  law.  What  we  deserved  as  sinners,  Christ 
has  suffered  for  us.  What  we  owed  as  creatures,  Christ 
has  done  for  us.  And  therefore  salvation  is,  in  its  initial 
step,  in  its  vital  nature,  —  not  doing  something  to  be  saved,- 
not  suffering  something  to  be  forgiven,  —  but  receiving,  by 
faith,  the  perfect  righteousness  of  Him  whose  righteousness 
is  for  all  and  upon  all  that  believe ;  for  there  is  no  differ- 
ence. It  is  most  important  that  we  should  hold  fast,  and 
clearly  and  sharply  define,  this  great  truth,  that  our  only 
title  to  heaven,  the  only  ground  on  which  w^e  are  admitted 


148  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

into  heaven,  is  the  finished  work  of  the  Son  of  God.  And 
if  we  feel,  in  all  its  glory,  that  we  are  complete  in  Christ, 
that  we  have  a  complete  title,  that  there  is  no  flaw,  defect, 
or  deficiency  in  it,  nothing  needed  to  be  added  to  it,  nothing 
to  be  done  with  it,  but  simply  to  apply  it,  —  if  we  hold  it  fast, 
we  shall  never  be  tempted  to  add  rites  or  ceremonies  in 
order  to  be  more  easily  justified ;  or  to  think  that  our  sor- 
rows, our  tears,  our  sacrifices,  our  charities,  will  contribute 
one  jot  to  our  acceptance  with  God.  Good  works  follow 
and  are  the  evidences  of  this  state  of  acceptance ;  but  this 
state  of  acceptance  is  the  first  thing ;  and  so  wherever  we 
are  truly  and  really  justified  by  trust  and  faith  in  the  fin- 
ished work  of  the  Saviour,  it  is  just  as  impossible  that  good 
works  can  fail  to  follow,  as  it  is  that  heat  can  fail  to  emanate 
from  the  kindled  fire,  or  sunbeams  to  flow  from  the  risen 
sun.  Whatever  good,  then,  Abel  had  done,  he  regarded  as 
no  part  of  the  righteousness  by  which  he  was  justified ;  and 
whatever  pain  Abel  had  suffered,  he  regarded  as  no  part  of 
that  atonement  which  was  to  be  made  for  sin.  He  was 
counted  righteous  before  he  was  made  righteous.  In  other 
words,  he  was  justified  by  Christ's  righteousness  without 
him,  before  he  was  sanctified  by  the  Holy  Spirit  within  him. 
It  is  thus  that  we,  like  Abel,  must  be  justified.  Justification 
by  faith,  whieh  *  Martin  Luther  preached,  and  preached  so 
clearly,  so  constantly,  so  emphatically,  was  not  a  new. 
doctrine.  It  was  only  the  excavation  of  an  old  doctrine 
that  was  buried.  It  was  not  the  creation  of  a  new  star ;  it 
was  merely  the  clearing  of  the  clouds  from  the  bright  star 
that  had  been  standing  overhead  from  the  days  of  righteous 
Abel.  It  was  not  something  that  man  had  never  seen  or 
known  before ;  it  was  only  the  exhibition  of  that  which 
man's  superstition  had  clouded.  When  men  talk  of  a  new 
church  being  made  at  the  Reformation,  they  talk  in  perfect 
ignorance.  *  The  Council  of  Trent  made  an  attempt  in  1560 


THE    PROTOMARTYR.  149 

to  reform  the  cliureli.  They  were  specially  summoned, 
cardinals  and  archbishops  and  bishops,  to  reform  the  church 
in  its  head  and  its  members.  The  Council  of  Trent  met  to 
reform  the  church ;  and  Martin  Luther,  Zwingle,  and  Knox, 
and  Latimer,  and  Ridley,  all  set  about  to  do  what  the 
Council  of  Trent  had  set  them  a  precedent  of —  reforming 
the  church.  Both  parties  met  to  reform  it ;  but  the  result 
was,  that  the  Council  of  Trent  deformed  it,  and  Calvin  and 
Luther  reformed  it.  In  the  first  case,  you  have  the  church 
made  worse  than  it  was  already.  In  the  other  case  you 
have  all  the  errors  and  incrustations  of  the  church  cast 
away  from  it.  The  Reformation  is  not  older  «than  the  six- 
teenth century ;  Christianity  is  as  old  as  the  days  of  Abel. 
The  reformation  of  the  church,  the  extension  of  the  church 
in  its  apostolic  purity,  was  the  object  and  attainment  of  the 
Reformers.  It  is  of  no  use  to  say  that  Luther  was  pas- 
sionate, and  that  Cranmer  once  went  back  again  to  the 
superstitions  from  which  he  had  emerged.  It  is  of  no  use 
to  plead  that  our  Reformers  had  many  great  faults.  The 
wonder  is,  that,  coming  out  of  so  bad  a  school  as  that  of 
Romanism  was,  they  had  not  more  faults.  The  sj^lendid 
heritage  vindicated  and  transmitted  by  these  men  was  not 
because  they  had  no  faults,  but  in  spite  of  their  having 
faults.  We  therefore  conclude,  that  this  great  truth,  which 
is  the  glory  of  the  church  of  Christ,  around  which  its 
brightest  hopes  collect  and  rally,  and  on  which  the  super- 
structure of  its  happiness  must  be  built — justification  by 
faith  alone  in  the  righteousness  of  Jesus  Christ  —  was  an 
ancient  doctrine,  a  primitive  dogma,  the  hope  of  Abel,  and 
the  joy  of  all  the  members  of  the  Church  before  the 
Flood. 

God  accepted  the  one,  and  rejected  the  other ;  and  what 
was  the  result  of  his  doing  so  ?     Abel's  meekness,  charity, 
forbearance,  submission,  and  love,  and  gratitude,  were  all 
13* 


150  THE    CHURCn    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

increased  by  God's  acceptance  of  his  offering;  but  Cain's 
hatred,  malice,  ill-will,  and  all  uncharitableness,  were  in- 
flamed and  exasperated  by  the  rejection  of  his,  especially 
as  contrasted  with  the  visible  acceptance  of  his  brother's 
offering.  Thus  it  comes  to  pass,  that  the  very  virtues  of  the 
good  are  their  very  faults,  their  greatest  crimes,  in  the  eyes 
of  the  wicked.  Thus  the  excellence  of  one  that  is  hated,  is 
the  very  fuel  that  feeds  the  jealousy  of  him  that  hates  him. 
You  never  can,  by  any  progress  in  excellence,  allay  the 
envy  or  the  jealousy  of  the  depraved.  The  only  way  is  to 
pray  that  a  new  heart  may  be  given  them,  and  that  they 
may  rejoice  iit  ^e  spectacle  that  they  now  reprobate,  reject, 
and  condemn. 

We  see  here  the  very  first  proofs  of  sin  and  grace.  Sin 
develoj)ed  itself  in  its  first  stage  in  murder.  Grace  devel- 
oped itself  in  its  first  manifestation  in  martyrdom.  In  the 
one,  you  have  sin  making  the  awful  murderer.  In  the 
other,  you  have  grace  ripening  the  soul  for  the  heroism  of  a 
doomed  martyrdom.  God  thus  showed,  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  the  church  and  the  world,  what  sin  can  make 
man,  if  unmitigated  and  unrestrained ;  and  how  grace  can 
elevate  and  ennoble  him  who  accepts  it  in  the  heart.  This 
succession  is  still  continued.  What  is  the  great  brand  and 
mark  of  the  Western  Apostasy  ?  The  Cain  mark.  It  came 
to  pass,  that  wherever  Cain  trod,  the  soil  was  cursed  because 
of  him ;  and  that  wherever  man  saw  him,  he  was  ready  to 
destroy  him.  His  presence  was  a  curse.  And  what  is  the 
history  of  that  great  Apostasy  ?  Read  its  history  in  the 
fires  it  has  kindled  for  the  destruction  of  its  victims.  Trace 
its  havoc  among  the  martyrs  of  Jesus  to  the  days  of  the 
Reformation.  Trace  its  footsteps  in  the  blood  thajt  was 
shed ;  and  if  we  wish  to  know  what  its  moral  results  are, 
where  it  has  dominion,  let  us  turn  to  Spain,  and  Italy,  and 
Austria,  where  we  have  a  people  above  the  soil  not  one 


THE    PROTOMARTYR.  151 

whit  more  intellectual  than  the  dead  dust  of  their  fathers 
sleeping  beneath  the  soil.  And  yet  we  are  told  that  that  is 
the  system  that  is  to  be  such  a  blessing  to  Westminster ; 
that  is  the  system  to  be  the  regeneration  of  the*  benighted 
Irish  there.  A  recent  visitor  has  said,  he  could  trace  a 
nobleman,  distinguished  for  his  philanthropy  and  goodness, 
in  the  dark  places  of  Westminster.  He  found  him  wading 
through  the  mud,  after  speaking  to  the  ragged  children 
some  bright  hopes  and  useful  lessons,  to  visit  some  plague- 
smitten  alley.  But  during  the  whole  time,  he  had  not  met 
His  Eminence,  the  individual  who  has  promised  so  much,  in 
a  single  ragged  dormitory,  or  ragged  school,  or  distributing 
even  by  substitute  a  single  tract  or  Bible  among  them.  Be 
not  deceived ;  what  Romanism  has  made  Spain,  Italy,  and 
Austria,  morally  and  intellectually,  it  would  make  West- 
minster. The  Cain  mark  is  upon  it.  It  has  its  origin  then 
and  there.  I  am  not  speaking  of  men ;  for  Christians  are 
in  it ;  yet  these  are  not  its  creation,  they  are  produced  in 
spite  of  it. 

Two  or  three  more  lessons  I  gather  from  the  whole  of 
this  interesting  subject. 

First,  on  looking  back  to  the  history  of  these  two  broth- 
ers, we  find  that  Cain  was  the  elder  and  that  Abel  was  the 
younger ;  and  that  when  Cain  was  born,  Eve  said,  "  I  have 
gotten  a  man  from  the  Lord ;  "  or,  in  the  original  it  is,  "  I 
have  gotten  the  man,  Jehovah."  In  other. words,  she  heard, 
sounding  in  her  heart,  that  beautiful  promise,  "  The  seed  of 
the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head."  She  thought 
that  the  seed  was  to  be  born  of  her,  instead  of  4,000  years 
afterwards.  And  when  Cain  was  born,  in  the  exuberance 
of  her  joy  that  a  man-child  was  born,  she  said,  "I  have 
gotten  the  man  promised  to  bruise  this  wicked  serpent's 
head.  I  have  got  him."  And  she  called  him,  therefore, 
Cain,  which  means,  "one  that  is  acquired."     And  when 


152        THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 

Abel  was  born,  she  called  liim  Abel,  which  means  "  Vanity," 
that  is,  "  Poor  child,  he  belongs  to  a  fallen  race ;  he  is 
scarcely  worth  the  trouble  of  rearing."  She  was  bitterly 
mistaken.  *  She  lived  to  see  her  miscalculation.  Names 
often  are  misapplied.  Mothers'  hopes  are  often  blighted 
and  blasted.  The  son  that  she  thought  would  be  her  glory 
and  her  defence,  turns  out  the  murderer.  The  other  that 
she  christened  Vanity,  and  thought  unworthy  of  notice, 
turns  out  to  be  the  martyr. 

Grace  is  not  by  nature.  Adam  was  a  converted  man,  a 
true  Christian,  as  soon  as  he  received  the  promise,  and 
believed  in  Jesus.  But  Adam  had,  here  mentioned,  two 
sons,  one  a  Christian  —  Abel;  the  other  not  a  Christian  — 
Cain.  And  what  does  this  teach  us  ?  Sin  is  native ;  but 
grace  is  donative.  Sin  is  by  generation ;  grace  is  by  re- 
generation. The  pious  father  has  not  always  the  pious  son. 
The  wicked  j^arent  has  not  always  the  wicked  child.  God 
shows  sovereignty  in  these  things,  and  yet  he  has  given  a 
promise  in  connection  and  not  inconsistent  with  that  sove- 
reignty, "  Train  up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and 
when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it." 

Outward  events  are  not  necessarily  the  evidences  of 
God's  mind  towards  us.  The  very  first  Christian  was  put 
to  a  cruel  death ;  and  the  very  first  murderer  escaped  alive. 
"What  does  this  teach  us?  That  God's  outward  provi- 
dential acts  are  not  always,  in  themselves,  and  of  them- 
selves, the  exact  evidences  of  his  love  and  aifection  towards 
us.  God's  hand  is  often  heavy  on  a  Christian,  when  God's 
heart  overflows  with  love  to  that  Christian.  We  must  not, 
therefore,  because  we  lose  our  property,  our  health,  or  our 
relations,  if  we  be  believers,  say,  All  these  things  are 
against  us.  But,  if  we  be  God's  children,  we  must  feel, 
and  we  are  w\arranted,  and  commanded,  and  it  is  our 
privilege  to  feel,  that  "  all  things  are  working  together  for 


»  THE    PROTOMARTYR.  153 

good  to  them  that  love  God,  to  them  who  are  the  called 
according  to  his  purpose." 

One  remark  more.  It  has  been  argued,  that  because 
Cain  was  spared  and  not  capitally  punished  on  this  occasion, 
that,  therefore,  capital  punishment  is  forbidden  of  God.  It 
seems  to  prove  the  reverse  to  me.  Cain  seemed  to  know 
that  death  was  his  desert  —  such  was  his  consciousness  of 
the  inner  law  already  felt,  if  not  ^vritten,  upon  the  human 
heart,  "  Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by  man  shall  his 
blood  be  shed,^'  that  Cain  said,  "  Behold,  thou  hast  driven 
me  out  this  day  from  the  face  of  the  earth ;  and  from  thy 
face  shall  I  be  hid;  and  I  shall  be  a  iugitive  and  a 
vagabond  in  the  earth;  and  it  shall  come  to  pass,  that 
every  one  that  findeth  me  shall  slay  me."  "Why  did  Cain 
say  that  ?  Because  the  very  instincts  of  his  conscience  told 
him  that  capital  punishment  was  the  desert  of  so  capital  a 
crime.  But  God  spared  him.  He  let  him  go  away  for 
some  special  purpose,  probably  for  man's  sake,  not  his  own, 
to  make  proof  by  experiment  whether  the  remission  of 
capital  punishment  would  be  better  than  inflicting  it.  God 
always  teaches  a  lesson  by  a  fact,  before  he  states  a 
principle.  He  spared  Cain,  but  what  was  the  result? 
Two  thousand  years  after,  he  looked  down,  and  saw  that 
the  whole  earth  was  filled  with  violence  and  bloodshed. 
Then  what  did  God  say  ?  He  made  a  new  law,  not  new  in 
its  principle,  for  it  was  in  Cain's  heart ;  but  new  as  a 
legislative  enactment,  "Whoso  sheddeth  man's  blood,  by 
man  shall  his  blood  be  shed;"  that  is,  the  sparing  the 
murderer  has  not  been  productive  of  the  results  that  certain 
warm  and  kind-hearted  men  still  predict ;  but  of  the  very 
reverse.  And,  therefore,  capital  punishment  for  that  crime, 
and  it  is  the  only  crime  that  ought  to  be  capitally  punished, 
is  an  awful,  a  stern,  and  terrible  necessity ;  a  necessity  that 
has  a  sanction  in  the  Bible,  and,  I  suspect,  in  the  hearts 


154  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

and   consciences  and   judgments  of  the   most  enlightened 
legislators  among  mankind. 

Wherever  there  exist  self-righteousness  and  a  persecuting 
spirit,  there  is  nothing  like  a  missionary  spirit.  When  God 
inquired  of  Cain  about  his  brother,  his  contemptuous  reply 
was,  "Am  I  my  brother's  keeper?"  precisely  as  many 
people  say  still,  not  so  wicked  as  Cain,  but  quite  as  thought- 
less, "A  man's  salvation  is  his  own  business,  his  salvation 
is  his  own  matter."  So  one  says;  but  another  says  with 
truth,  "  It  is  your  duty,  and  your  privilege."  And  it  is 
not  only  so  in  principle ;  but  it  is  so  in  experience.  If  you 
let  the  rising  generation  of  the  poor  grow  up  without  teach- 
ing them,  in  the  Scriptures,  their  duties  to  God,  and  their 
duties  to  their  souls,  the  next  generation  will  tell  you,  that 
if  you  had  been  your  brother's  keeper,  you  would  not  now 
have  been  your  brother's  victim.  The  best  interest  of 
society,  as  well  as  the  first  duty  of  the  gospel,  is  to  try  to 
make  every  man  better  because  we  have  come  in  contact 
with  him.  There  is  not  a  servant  in  our  house,  there  is  not 
a  laborer  on  our  estate,  there  is  not  a  i:)erson  to  whom  we 
do  not  owe  the  duty,  of  trying  to  make  him  better  and 
happier;  so  that  the  world  may  say,  as  they  hear  of  our 
death,  or  see  our  tombstone.  Here  lies  a  man,  who  lived 
not  to  amass  money,  nor  one  who  selfishly  pursued  his  way, 
shouldering  off  every  man  who  would  not  bring  money  to 
him ;  but  a  Christian,  who  has  passed  through  the  world  — ■ 
not  a  blank,  nor  a  bane  —  but  a  great  and  an  increasing 
blessing ;  who  has  made  the  world  better  because  he  was  in 
it.  To  have  such  a  j)osthumous  renown,  is  far  nobler  than 
to  have  poems  written  on  a  tombstone,  or  beautiful  com- 
ments paid  for  or  advertised  in  the  papers  of  the  day.  Let 
us  show  that  we  have  no  sympathy  with  the  Cain-cry,  "  I 
am  not  my  brother's  keeper,"  but  with  Christ's  feeling,  who 
laid  down  his  life  for  his  brethren. 


THE   PROTOMARTYR.  155 

And,  lastly,  let  us  ask  ourselves,  are  we,  by  faith,  resting 
upon  Abel's  Saviour?  Are  we  resting,  in  our  hearts,  on 
that  only  righteousness  which  is  unto  and  upon  all  ?  "When 
Cain  —  and  what  a  fact  is  this  —  was  overwhelmed  with 
envy  at  the  acceptance  of  his  brother's  sacrifice,  God  said, 
"  If  thou  doest  well,  shalt  thou  not  be  accepted  ?  and  if  thou 
doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door:"  that  is,  "Obey 
perfectly,  and  the  reward  shall  be  perfect  acceptance." 
"  And  if  thou  doest  not  well,  sin  lieth  at  the  door,"  or,'  as  it 
might  otherwise  be  justly  translated,  a  "sin-offering"  lies 
at  your  door. 

"A  sin-offering  lieth'  at  thy  door."  In  other  words,  "  If, 
Cain,  you  are  satisfied  that  by  deeds  of  the  law  you  can  be 
justified,  pray  make  the  trial,  and  be  justified  or  not  accord- 
ing to  the  issue ;  but,  if  you  are  satisfied,  by  painful  and 
bitter  satisfaction,  that  by  deeds  of  the  law  you  never  can  be 
justified,  then  rush  from  Sinai ;  rivet  your  affections  on  this 
only  Saviour;  look  to  the  great  Sin-offering;  make  him 
once  for  all  your  only  trust.  It  is  not  for  you  to  go  up  to 
heaven  to  bring  Christ  down ;  it  is  not  for  you  to  go  down 
into  the  depths  to  bring  Christ  up.  He  waits  for  your 
acceptance.  He  was  pierced  for  you.  That  Victim  speaks 
in  his  agony,  and  he  speaks  from  the  throne,  '  Behold,  I 
stand  at  the  door,  and  knock :  if  any  man  hear  my  voice, 
and  open  the  door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with 
him,  and  he  with  me.'"  And  if  mercy  and  forgiveness, 
through  the  blood  of  Christ,  were  offered  to  such  a  sinner  as 
Cain,  let  the  chiefest  of  saints  and  the  greatest  of  criminals 
know  that  there  is  instant  forgiveness  for  their  greatest  sins, 
if,  with  humble  trust  and  faith  and  confidence,  they  look  to 
and  lean  on  Him  who  is  set  forth  as  the  propitiation  for 
their  sins. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

THE    HEART   AS    IT   IS. 

"All  our  actions  take 
Their  lines  from  one  complexion  of  the  heart, 
As  landscapes,  their  variety  from  light." 

"  I  care  not,  so  my  kernel  rehsh  well, 
How  slender  be  the  substance  of  my  shell. 
My  heart  being  holy,  let  my  face  be  wan ; 
I  am  to  God,  I  only  seem  to  man." 

*'  The  heart  is  deceitful  above  all  tilings^  and  desperately  wicked:  who  can 
know  it?  I  the  Lord  search  the  heart,  /  try  the  reins."  —  Jer.  xvii. 
9,  10. 

'*  And  God  saw  that  the  wickedness  of  man  teas  great  in  the  earth,  and 
that  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  his  heart  was  only  evil  con- 
tinually. The  earth  also  was  corrupt  before  God,  and  the  earth  was 
filled  with  violence.  And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and,  behold, 
it  was  corrupt;  for  all  flesh  had  corrupted  his  way  upon  the  earth." 
—  Gen.  vi.  5, 11, 12. 

It  needs  not  any  additional  remarks  of  mine,  to  enforce 
the  truth  I  have  endeavored,  however  feebly,  to  show,  that 
a  vast  deterioration  has  taken  place  in  all  humanity.  Its 
progression,  during  the  series  of  1,500  years  that  had 
elapsed  from  the  creation  of  man,  was  in  every  instance 
towards  worse,  in  no  instance  a  retrogression  towards  the 
good  that  it  had  lost.  Every  faculty  seems  to  have  been 
injured,  every  affection  to  have  become  depraved,  and  the 
whole  heart  of  man,  in  the  expressive  and  almost  awful 
language  of  the  prophet,  to  have  become  "  deceitful  above 
all  things,  and  desperately  wicked." 


THE    HEART   AS    IT    IS.  157 

We  were  not  left  to  draw  this  conclusion  as  an  inference ; 
it  is  the  positive  assertion  of  God,  reiterated  in  almost  every 
book  of  the  Bible,  and  painfully  confirmed  by  all  the  facts 
of  the  history  of  mankind.  He  who  made  the  heart  and 
knew  it,  and  He  who  could  search,  it  and  sift  it,  and  see 
through  all  its  wrappings,  and  detect  it  under  all  its  multi- 
plied disguises,  pronounces  of  it  the  awful  verdict  in  the  6th 
chapter  of  Genesis,  that  "  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts 
of  man's  heart  was  only  evil  continually."  "And  it  repented 
the  Lord,  and  grieved  him  to  the  heart,  that  he  had  made 
man."  "What  an  expression  of  the  awful  depravity  of  man! 
and  how  bad  must  he  have  been,  when  the  God  who  made 
him  once  so  beautiful  and  fair,  is  said,  in  the  language  of 
earth,  to  have  repented,  and  to  have  been  gi'ieved  at  the 
heart,  that  he  had  made  him.  But  we  have  only  to  read 
modern  history,  and  on  the  Continent  from  1789  to  1853,  to 
hear  of  the  frightful  excesses  into  which  humanity,  when 
let  loose  from  the  restraint  of  moral  law,  can  plunge  and 
precijiitate  itself. 

The  language  that  God  uses  in  Genesis  is  most  strong 
— "  every  imagination,"  every  movement  of  the  heart  — 
"  every  imagination  of  the  thoughts,"  that  is,  that  delicate 
tracery  of  thought  which  man  cannot  handle,  and  which 
man's  blind  eye  cannot  see,  God  sees,  and  pronounces  to  be 
tainted.  "  And  every  imagination  of  the  tlioughts  of  man's 
heart,"  not  merely  one,  or  a  few,  but  "  every  imagination  of 
the  thoughts  of  man's  heart "  is  evil,  infected,  —  the  foun- 
tain is  polluted,  the  root  is  poisoned ;  all  the  streams  and  all 
the  fruit  and  branches  must  be  so.  And  there  is  no  sus- 
pension of  this  evil ;  for  he  says,  it  is  evil,  and  that 
"  continually."  What  an  awful  statement  is  this,  that  the 
thoughts  that  we  think  pure,  seen  by  God,  a^e  really 
impure ;  and  that  our  best  doings  have  so  much  alloy  in 
them,  that  they  alone  would  disqualify  us  for  the  kingdom 


niri7EiisiTr] 


158  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

of  heaven.  Our  moral  sense,  just  like  our  physical  sense, 
has  become  deadened  by  the  Fall ;  but  I  have  no  doubt  that 
to  the  eye  of  an  infinitely  pure"  Being,  even  the  purest 
thought  that  leaps  like  the  lightning  through  the  heart 
of  man,  must  present  itself  as  infected,  or  poisoned  in  his 
sight.  "  Every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  man's  heart 
was  only  evil  continually."  Now  read  the  history  of  the 
race  in  after  ages,  and  do  we  find  any  change  ?  "We  come 
down  to  the  days  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah,  from  whom  I 
have  read  theu  passage  that  we  are  now  considering,  and  in 
his  days,  595  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  that  is,  about 
3,500  years  after  the  creation  of  man,  and  about  1,500  years 
after  God's  judgment  in  the  vel*se  in  Genesis  —  we  find 
man's  heart  pronounced  to  be  "  deceitful  above  all  things, 
and  desperately  wicked "  —  the  disease  is  too  desperate  to 
be  cured.  The  words  "  desperately  wicked  "  mean  incura- 
ble ;  and  Gesenius,  the  celebrated  Hebrew  lexicographer, 
who  was  a  rationalist,  defines  the  word  to  mean  "  so  desper- 
ate as  to  be  incurable  by  human  power."  In  other  words, 
the  disease  is  too  deep  to  be  cured  by  human  skill.  There 
may  be  in  man's  heart  modifying  lights,  relieving  contrasts ; 
there  may  be  fragments  of  his  primeval  beauty  still  sur- 
viving; there  may  be  thoughts  that  indicate  the  grand 
fountain  out  of  v/hich  they  came  in  Paradise,  still  lingering; 
but  the  great  judgment  is  true  of  all  humanity,  that  it  is  far 
worse  than  we  know  it,  and  our  disease  far  more  perilous 
than  we  ourselves  admit  or  believe.  It  is  "  desperately 
-wicked;  who, can  know  it?"  Kot  ourselves,  for  the  terra 
incognita  to  thousands  is  in  their  own  bosoms,  and  men  who 
know  the  secrets  of  chemistry,  geology,  astronomy,  are 
ignorant  of  the  secret  depths  and  recesses  of  their  own 
hearts.  ."AVho  can  know  it?"  Not  demons,  not  angels, 
not  metaphysicians,  not  anatomists.  God  says,  that  there 
is  a  depth  of  depravity  in  it  so  great,  that  none  can  know 


I 


THE   HEART    AS    IT   IS.  159 

it,  and  "I  the  Lord  that  search  the  hearts,  and  try  the 
reins  of  the  children  of  men,  alone  can  know  it." 

Did  this  heart  mend  itself  when  we  come  to  the  days 
of  our  blessed  Lord?  You  are  aware,  it  is  a  favorite 
theory  with  certain  philosophers,  that  if  you  leave  humanity, 
it  will  grow  into  perfection  just  as  sure  as  if  you  leave  a 
seed,  it  will  grow  into  a  tree,  and  blossom,  and  bear  fruit ; 
and  that  man  is  in  a  course  of  endless  progression  towards 
perfection.  Is  it  the  fact,  that  humanity  is  improved  in  its 
moral  features  ?  Separate  from  it  the  influence  of  the 
Christian  religion,  and  is  it  not  true  that  nations  ignorant 
of  Christianity  are  at  this  moment  just  what  we  are? 
Nay,  that  you  can  find  among  the  ancient  heathen,  instances 
of  devotedness,  and  self-sacrifice,  and  virtue,  such  as  you 
will  not  find  in  modern  nations  that  are  strangers  to  the 
restorative  power  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  Jesus.  Let  us 
look,  then,  if  there  was  any  progress  up  to  the  days  of  our 
Lord,  that  is,  2,500  years  after  the  Flood,  when  this  judg- 
ment in  Genesis  was  pronounced.  What  does  the  Lord 
say  ?  He  was  "  the  truth ; "  his  judgment  must,  therefore, 
be  true.  He  was  love  itself,  and  could,  therefore,  have  no 
pleasure  in  darkening  the  portrait  that  was  already  dark 
enough.  He  says,  "  Out  of  the  heart  of  men  proceed  evil 
thoughts,  adulteries,  fornications,  murders,  thefts,  covetous- 
ness,  wickedness,  deceit,  lasciviousness,  an  evil  eye,  blas- 
phemy, pride,  foolishness."  Such  are  the  children  of  the 
heart  —  such  the  offspring  of  your  heart  and  my  heart,  as 
that  heart  is  in  its  native,  unchanged,  and  unrenovated 
character.  He  who  heard  its  lowest  beatings,  said  so.  He 
whose  eye  pierced  its  most  subtle  and  exquisite  structure, 
said  so.  Hq^Avho  had  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the 
sinner,  but  rather  that  he  should  turn  from  his  wickedness 
and  live,  said  so.  And  as  if  in  his  own  generation  he 
should  prove  it  to  be  so,  when  he,  the  perfection  of  all 


160  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

excellence,  the  brightness  of  the  glory  of  God,  came  to 
earth,  if  there  were  one  spark  of  love,  one  element  of 
purity  in  human  nature,  surely  it  must  have  hailed  so^ 
illustrious,  so  beneficent  a  messenger,  come  from  the  skies 
to  restore  it ;  but  instead  of  doing  so,  the  awful  proof  of  its 
awful  wickedness  is  in  these  words,  "  He  came  to  his  own., 
and  his  own  knew  him  not."  He  came,  offering  his  life  a 
ransom  for  sinners,  and  they  shouted,  as  the  representatives 
of  all  humanity,  "  Away  with  him,  away  with  him  !-  Crucify 
him,  crucify  tim !  It  is  not  fit  that  such  a  one  should 
live." 

If,  again,  we  come  down  to  the  days  of  the  Apostle  Paul, 
we  find  no  progress  still.  He  gives  a  picture  of  the  human 
heart,  as  that  heart  beat  in  his  days,  in  the  first  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  so  awful,  that  we  at  once  feel 
that  the  judgments  of  God  in  the  sixth  chapter  of  Genesis, 
and  in  the  seventeenth  chapter  of  Jeremiah,  were  not  in 
the  least  overcliarged.  I  am  speaking,  not  of  the  heart  of 
the  Jew,  or  the  heart  of  the  Roman,  but  the  heart  of  man. 
The  portraits  of  Christianity  are  not  topical,  local,  acciden- 
tal, but  the  graphic  pictures  of  all  mankind  —  the  just  and 
accurate  cartoons  of  what  humanity  was,  is,  and  ever  must 
be,  till  it  be  renovated  by  the  holy  Spirit  of  God. 

Of  course,  many  will  say.  We  cannot  believe  that  the 
natural  man  is  what  you  say,  since  we  see  so  much  in  him 
that  is  the  reverse.  I  admit  that  one  man  is  constitutionally 
honorable,  another  man  is  constitutionally  humble,  and 
honest,  and  gentle.  There  are  also  repressive  influences 
which  keep  down  the  outbreak  of  the  heart's  corruptions. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  this  is  not  a  description  of  what 
is  taking  place  without,  but  of  what  is  lurking«within.  This 
is  not  a  statement  of  a  volcano  exploding ;  but  it  is  that  of 
a  volcano  that  has  its  retreat  in  the  heart,  and  is  there  ever 
liable  to  explode,  and  demonstrate  the  fearful  elements  of 


THE    HEABT   AS    IT   IS.  161 

havoc  that  are  latent  within.  The  description,  therefore,  is 
not  that  every  human  being  is  a  drunkard,  an  adulterer,  a 
blasphemer,  covetous,  wicked,  proud,  foolish,  a  murderer,  a 
thief,  and  so  on  ;  it  does  not  say,  every  individual  is  so ;  but 
it  says,  in  every  individual's  heart  these  elements  exist,  in 
some  in  the  bud,  in  some  slightly  developed,  in  some  power- 
ful, in  some  irresistible,  and  in  some  exploding  in  awful  man- 
ifestations. It  is  therefore  the  picture  of  what  the  human 
heart  is,  and  what  it  may  develop,  if  circumstances  permit  it. 
We  do  not  know  how  much  we  owe  to  never  having  come 
within- reach  of  some  specific  temptation  ;  and  how  much  of 
our  excellence  we  are  indebted  to,  for  never  being  placed  in 
circumstances  where  the  match  that  would  ignite  would  have 
been  applied.  We  do  not  know,  in  other  words,  what  we  owe 
to  the  providence  of  God  that  placed  us  here,  and  not  there. 
And  very  often,  when  you  rebuke  with  just  severity  the 
offender,  temper  your  rebuke  with  the  inner  recollection  — 
r  might  have  been  worse,  if  I  had  been  in  his  place ;  and 
at  all  events,  give  for  your  safety  and  preservation  all  the 
glory,  either  to  the  providence  of  God  that  kept  you  as  you 
are,  or  to  the  grace  of  God  that  made  you  triumph,  where 
otherwise  you  would  have  foully  fallen. 

Having  seen  this  picture  of  what  humanity  has  become, 
let  me  notice  the  following  lessons.  First,  long  life  is  no 
preservative  against  the  degeneracy  of  man.  Man  lived  in 
the  days  of  Noah  twelve  or  thirteen  times  longer  than  man 
lives  now ;  but  did  he  improve  ?  Did  experience  teach  him 
more  excellent  lessons  ?  Did  his  contact  with  evil  prove  to 
him  experimentally  its  bitterness  ?  Did  he  grow  better  as 
he  grew  older?  The  language  of  Scripture  indicates  the 
very  reverse  —  that  the  longer  he  lived  the  more  corrupt 
he  became,  and  the  inference  naturally  forced  upon  us  is, 
that  it  is  well  that  man's  life  is  shortened,  or  the  world 
would  become  far  worse  than  it  ever  was  before.  The 
14* 


162  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

shortening  of  our  life  is  partly  in  judgment,  but  it  is  partly 
in  mercy  —  in  mercy  to  the  good,  that  they  may  be  sooner 
transplanted  to  a  higher  and  better  world  —  in  mercy  to  the 
bad,  that  they  may  not  have  space  and  scope  to  develop  all 
the  inherent  depravity  of  their  nature.  And  therefore, 
what  seems  to  us  a  judgment  because  of  our  sins,  is  light- 
ened by  the  thought  that  it  is  also  mercy  on  the  part  of 
God.  To  wish,  therefore,  that  we  lived  a  couj^le  of  hundred 
years,  instead  of  seventy,  is  not  worth  wishing.  There  is 
no  evidence  that  we  should  get  better  by  it.  We  shall  find 
old  men  just  as  depraved  in  one  way,  as  young  men  are  in 
another,  if  both  be  strangers  to  the  grace  of  God. 

Tradition  is  no  sure  preventive  of  corruption.  Here  was 
a  grand  field  for  the  experiment,  whether  tradition,  or  the 
oral  transmission  of  truth,  would  preserve  the  human  race 
from  apostasy.  Between  Adam  and  Noah  there  was  only 
one  single  link.  Methuselah  could  tell  Noah  what  he 
learned  from  Adam,  and  the  lessons  that  Adam  taught; 
and  Noah  could  thus  treasure  them  up  for  his  generation. 
If  ever  oral  transmission  of  truth  was  placed  in  circum- 
stances favorable  to  its  perfect  efficiency,  it  was  in  the  ante- 
diluvian world.  But  what  was  the  result?  It  failed  to 
prevent  utter  apostasy ;  it  failed  to  prevent  the  corruption 
of  all  mankind ;  it  failed  to  perpetuate  that  truth  which 
Adam  had  learned  in  Paradise,  but  which  the  antediluvians 
had  forgotten  soon  after  they  learned  it  from  Adam's  lips. 
And  if  oral  transmission  of  truth  failed  in  such  favorable 
circumstances,  how  inevitable  is  the  conclusion  that  it  must 
have  failed  in  the  mediaeval  ageS  of  Europe,  and  that  the 
traditions  of  the  ^Yestern  Apostasy,  instead  of  being  the 
truths  of  God,  are  the  perverted,  and  corrupted,  and  dis- 
torted traditions  of  once  great  truths,  now  travestied  into 
utter  and  anile  fables. 

We  learn  in  the  next  place,  that  God's  great  forbearance 


THE    HEART    AS    IT    IS.  163 

did  not  repress  wickedness.  How  long  did  God  bear  with 
man  after  man  had  fallen  into  this  apostate,  demoralized, 
and  lost  condition  !  One  would  have  thought  that  such  for- 
bearance so  vividly  illustrated  in  the  case  of  spared  Cain, 
would  have  made  the  rest  of  mankind  say.  So  good  a  God 
surely  merits  a  different  treatment  at  our  hands.  But  they 
denied  his  existence ;  they  defied  his  judgments ;  they 
doubted  the  inspection  of  his  providence,  and  lived  as  if 
there  were  no  God,  and  sinned  as  if  there  could  be  no  judg- 
ment. The  long  forbearance  of  God  had,  therefore,  no 
arresting  influence  on  the  increased  corruption  of  man. 

Again,  the  visible  example  of  the  effects  of  sin  had  no 
effect  upon  them.  In  other  words,  punishment  did  not  deter 
them.  Cain  walked  the  world,  blasted  within  and  branded 
without,  a  vagabond  and  a  fugitive,  the  punished  of  heaven 
and  the  shunned  of  earth,  proving  by  his  dumb  but  expres- 
sive spectacle,  that  it  is  a  bitter  and  a  wicked  thing  to 
depart  from  God.  They  heard,  thundering  behind  Cain,  a 
law  that  said,  "  Thou  shalt  not ; "  and  they  heard,  speaking 
from  the  earth,  the  blood  of  Abel  that  still  cried  for  ven- 
geance; they  saw  an  earth  blasted,  flowers  blighted,  and 
Paradise,  like  a  bright  vision,  departing  in  the  distant  hori- 
zon —  all  reminding  what  sin  was,  and  \^at  sin  had  done, 
and  what  terrible  punitive  retributions  awaited  it :  and  yet, 
with  a  high  hand  they  sinned  against  God,  and  defied  the 
judgments,  and  mocked  at  the  penalties  of  the  transgression 
of  his  holy  law.  More  than  this,  they  had  seen  one  instance 
at  least  of  a  miracle  adequate  to  teach  them  that  the  path  to 
heaven  was  the  path  of  piety  and  virtue.  They  had  seen 
Enoch  walk  with  God,  and  they  had  seen  him  ascend  in  a 
bright  cloud  to  the  presence  of  God  —  a  testimony  visible  to 
the  eye,  and  audible  to  the  ear,  that  God  loved  and  re- 
garded the  righteous,  and  that  his  ear  was  ever  open  to  their 
cry.     But  this  did  not  arrest  their  course ;  there  is  no  proof 


164  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

that  this  miracle  exercised  a  regenerating  or  transforming 
influence  upon  antediluvian  society.  And  so  will  it  ever 
be  — "  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither 
will  they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 
No  demonstration  of  power  can  ever  change  the  human 
heart;  what  therefore  we  need  in  the  present  day  is,  not 
that  God  would  bow  the  heavens,  and  work  visible  miracles 
before  us,  but  that  God  would  be  pleased  to  bring  on  another 
Pentecost,  and  pour  his  Holy  Spirit  into  our  dark.and  cor- 
rupt hearts.  And  it  always  seems  to  me  that  the  demand 
for  miracles  to  convince  us  that  Christianity  is  true,  is  an 
admission  of  scepticism  a.nd  unbelief.  The  miracles  wrought 
by  our  Lord  and  his  apostles  sufficiently  affirm  the  truth  of 
Christianity.  They  convince  me.  I  do  not  wish  to  linger 
longer  at  the  porch  —  I  am  satisfied  that  the  temple  is  built 
by  God,  and  that  its  inner  chambers  are  filled  with  the 
glory  of  God;  and,  persuaded  of  this,  I  can  no  longer 
remain  without  for  proofs  of  it,  I  must  go  within  and  hear 
the  heavenly  oracle,  and  receive  the  blessings  that  are  for 
me,  and  feed  upon  the  living  bread  that  God  has  provided 
for  them  that  love  him.  It  is  certain,  that  no  miracle,  how- 
ever vast  the  power  of  which  it  is  the  exponent,  will  ever 
serve  to  make  a  man  a  Christian.  Thousands  will  appear  at 
the  judgment-day,  and  say,  "  Lord,  have  we  not  in  thy  name 
done  many  wonderful  works  ?  And  he  will  say  unto  them, 
I  never  knew  you :  depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity." 
This  shows  us,  that  wonderful  works  may  be  done  in  Christ's 
name  by  men  who  are  not  Christ's  people.  And  we  read 
in  the  Scriptures,  that  there  shall  come  a  day  when  such 
signs  and  wonders  shall  be  done,  that,  if  it  were  possible, 
they  shall  deceive  the  very  elect.  And  we  are  told,  that 
the  "  man  of  sin  "  will  come  with  "  lying  wonders  "  —  not 
"  false  wonders,"  but  rtqaai  ipevdovg,  "  wonders  to  confirm  a 
lie  "  —  wonders  wrought  to  prove  that  a  lie  is  God's  truth. 


THE   HEART   AS    IT   IS.  165 

But,  if  any  such  were  to  be  performed  before  us,  if  one 
were  to  come,  and  raise  a  dead  man  from  the  grave, 
and  say,  "  I  have  done  so,  and  I  show  you  this  proof  of 
power  to  convince  you  that  the  Bible  is  not  the  word  of 
God,  and  that  you  are  to  hear  tradition,  and  not  the  Bible ; " 
first  of  all,  I  should  recollect  that  there  shall  come  wonders 
in  the  last  days,  such  as,  if  it  were  possible,  shall  deceive 
the  very  elect ;  I  should  then  recollect  that  Satan  himself  is 
transformed  into  an  angel  of  light ;  and  lastly,  I  should 
recollect,  I  trust,  to  say,  "  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan. 
Thou  savorest  not  of  the  things  that  be  of  God."  This 
book  ends  all  controversy  about  what  is  truth,  and  therefore 
all  the  miracles  that  power  can  exhibit  upon  earth  will  not 
in  the  least  degree  shake  my  confidence  in  the  contents  of 
this  book :  for  if  God  wrought  miracles  to  prove  that  it  is 
true,  he  never  can  work  other  miracles  to  prove  that  it  is 
false;  and  therefore  the  other  miracles  must  come  from 
beneath,  they  never  can  come  from  the  source  of  light  and 
truth. 

In  the  next  place,  we  find  in  the  antediluvian  world  that 
the  very  preaching  of  the  gospel  failed  to  arrest  the  pre- 
vailing degeneracy.  Noah  was  a  preacher  of  righteousness ; 
and  in  1  Pet.  iii.  18,  a  passage  which  has  been  much  mis- 
understood, we  read :  "  For  Christ  also  hath  once  suffered 
for  sins,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  that  he  might  bring  us  to 
God,  being  put  to  death  in  the  flesh,  but  quickened  by  the 
Spirit :  by  which "  Spirit  —  the  "  Spirit  that  shall  not 
always  strive  with  man,"  (Gen.  vi.  3,)  —  "  also  he  went 
and  preached  unto  the  spirits  in  prison ;  which  sometime 
were  disobedient,  when  once  the  longsuffering  of  God 
w^aited  in  the  days  of  Noah,  while  the  ark  was  preparing, 
wherein  a  few,  that  is,  eight  souls,  w^ere  saved  by  water. 
The  like  figure  whereunto  even  baptism  doth  also  now  save 
us,  (not  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but  the 


166  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God,)  by  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ."  Then,  we  gather  from  this  that  the 
gospel  was  preached  by  Noah,  as  the  ambassador  of  Christ 
to  the  antediluvians;  and  that,  hearing  that  gospel  thus 
preached,  they  were  yet  not  moved,  or  melted,  or  trans- 
formed by  its  sanctifying  and  its  efficient  power.  And  the 
passage  says  also,  that  Christ  "  went  and  preached  unto  the 
spirits  in  prison."  Who  were  they  ?  Not  the  spirits  who 
were  in  prison  in  the  days  of  the  Flood,  as  if  Christ  went 
down  into  some  fabulous  region,  and  preached  to  men  after 
they  were  dead  ;  it  means,  that  Jesus  went  and  preached  to 
those  who  lived  in  the  days  of  Noah,  but  who  in  the  days 
of  Peter  were,  and  in  our  days  are,  in  prison  —  that  prison 
being  an  everlasting  exile  from  the  presence  and  the  glory 
of  God.  In  other  words,  it  tells  us  that  Jesug  Christ 
preached  by  Noah  to  men,  who  so  little  profited  by  it,  that 
they  are  now  shut  up  in  the  prison  of  condemnation  till  the 
last  day.  It  is  also  added,  "The  like  figure  whereunto 
baptism  doth  now  save  us."  Baptism  has,  then,  some 
connection  with  the  Flood.  Now,  how  did  the  Flood  save 
men  ?  It  saved  Noah  and  his  family,  but  it  did  not 
regenerate  them;  it  was  no  proof  that  they  had  been 
savingly  accepted  of  God.  In  spite  of  that  baptism  Ham 
plunged  into  gi'ievous  sin  against  God.  Now  baptism  in 
the  case  of  believers,  is  a  seal  of  recognition  of  them  as 
believers;  and,  wherever  it  is  administered,  whether  to 
young  or  old,  it  no  more  preserves  the  subject  of  it  from 
the  infection  of  sin  in  after-life,  than  the  Flood  preserved 
the  earth  from  that  corruption  which  spreads  over  it  in  the 
present  day.  Thus  the  gospel  was  preached  to  the  ante- 
diluvians, without  any  corresponding  result  equal  to  the 
preciousness  of  those  truths  which  sounded  in  their  ears. 
Is  it  not  the  same  still  ?  Men  hear  the  gospel,  and  they 
believe  it,  but  they  feel  nothing  of  it  —  the  preacher's  voice 


THE    HEAKT    AS    IT    IS.  167 

is  as  the  sound  of  one  who  playeth  well  upon  an  instru- 
ment ;  and  thousands  who  hear  it  are  now  what  they  would 
have  been  if  Christianity  had  never  been  preached  to  them 
at  all.  The  antediluvians  are  not  singular  in  their  rejection 
of  the  gospel ;  but  wherever  that  gospel  is  preached  still, 
it  is  the  "  savor  of  life "  unto  some,  and  the  "  savor  of 
death  "  unto  others. 

We  learn,  in  the  next  place,  that  the  judgment  which 
Noah  proclaimed  did  not  act  with  any  effect  upon  the  vast 
multitude.  He  told  them  that  the  windows  of  heaven  would 
be  opened,  and  the  fountains  of  the  deep  broken  up.  And 
to  precept  he  added  example ;  for  the  antediluvians  saw 
him,  for  upwards  of  one  hundred  years,  laying  the  timbers 
of  his  ark.  I  have  no  doubt  that  some  most  heartily 
laughed  at  him,  and  if  they  had  newspapers  in  that  day, 
that  they  caricatured  him  for  the  merriment  and  the  amuse- 
ment of  all.  I  have  no  doubt  scientific  men  showed  that  it 
was  absolutely  impossible  that  there  could  be  a  flood  ;  they 
no  doubt  asked,  where  is  the  force  that  can  resist  the  law  of 
gravitation,  and  make  the  waters  of  the  sea  rise  against  that 
law,  and  cover  the  loftiest  mountains  and  pinnacles  of  the 
world  ?  And  thus  the  whole  world  settled  itself  down  into 
the  quiet  conviction  that  the  world  would  last  their  day  at 
least,  and  that,  if  they  listened  to  that  fanatical  old  man, 
they  would  only  be  disturbed  in  their  present  enjoyments. 
Now  all  their  conclusions  were  very  probable  and  very 
exact,  as  far  as  the  data  upon  which  they  proceeded  were 
concerned;  but  they  left  out  one  element  —  they  ignored 
the  existence  and  the  word  of  God,  that  governs  all  things 
—  the  element  of  Omnipotent  power  was  excluded  —  the 
element  of  God's  threat  to  do  so  was  disregarded,  and  there- 
fore all  their  conclusions  fell  to  the  ground.  But,  if  the 
antediluvians  acted  so,  let  us  take  care  lest  we  be  faithfully 
copying  their  example ;  for  we  are  actually  told  in  the  word 


168  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

of  God  itself,  in  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter,  in  the  third 
chapter,  "  Beloved,  be  mindful  of  the  words  which  were 
spoken  before  by  the  holy  prophets,  and  of  the  com- 
mandment of  us  the  Apostles  of  the  Lord  and  Saviour: 
knowing  this  first,  that  there  shall  come  in  the  last  days 
scoffers,  walking  after  their  own  lusts,  and  saying,  Where  is 
the  promise  of  his  coming  ?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep, 
all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the 
creation."  Well,  then  the  Apostle  appeals  to  the  era  of 
the  Flood,  and  he  says,  "  For  this  they  are  willingly  igno- 
rant of,  that  by  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  were  of  old, 
and  the  earth  standing  out  of  the  water  and  in  the  water ; 
whereby  the  world  that  then  was,  being  overflowed  with 
water,  perished ;  but  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  which  are 
now,  by  the  same  word  are  kept  stored  with  fire,  reserved 
against  the  day  of  judgment,  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men. 
But,  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of  this  one  thing,  that  one  day 
is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years 
as  one  day.  The  Lord  is  not  slack  concerning  his  promise, 
as  some  men  count  slackness;  but  is  long  suffering  to 
US-ward,"  just  as  he  was  in  the  days  of  Noah,  "  not  willing 
that  any  should  perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repent- 
ance," just  as  he  was  then.  "  But,"  says  Peter,  "  the  day 
of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night ;  in  the  which 
the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the 
elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  the  earth  also  and 
the  works  that  are  therein  shall  be  burned  up.  Seeing  then 
that  all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of 
persons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godli- 
ness ?  "  All  this  shows  that  poor  humanity,  unimproved  by 
the  past,  will  repeat  itself  in  the  future ;  that  the  human 
heart  in  the  nineteenth  century,  will  just  be  the  counterpart 
of  the  human  heart  in  the  two  thousandth  year  of  the 
world's  creation.     And  do  not  men  go  on  saying.  Today  is, 


THE    HEART   AS    IT    IS.  169 

and  therefore  to-morrow  will  be?  They  say  1852  is  the 
guarantee  and  the  pledge  of  1853  ;  but  it  is  not  so.  Because 
you  have  seen  the  end  of  1852,  you  have  not  the  least 
guarantee  that  you  will  see  that  of  1853  ;  because  this  year 
has  rolled  to  its  close,  there  is  no  evidence  that  God  will 
continue  to  us  the  next.  He  lives,  and  is  the  living  God ; 
not  the  God  of  the  past  that  was,  but  of  the  present  that 
is ;  and  he  may  step  in  and  terminate  the  series  at  any 
moment  and  at  any  hour,  like  a  thief  in  the  night,  as  he 
pleases.  And  yet,  stranger  still  to  say,  though  this  is  so, 
men  will  be  engaged  upon  the  eve  of  the  world's  destruction 
by  fire,  just  as  they  were  on  the  eve  of  its'  dissolution  by 
the  Flood.  Some  one  has  made  the  remark,  "  History  is 
an  old  almanac."  The  remark  was  made  contemptuously, 
but  there  is  great  truth  in  it.  The  dates  are  changed,  and 
that  is  all.  Hence  it  is,  that  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noah, 
so  shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be.  The  date 
is  changed,  but  there  is  the  same  human  nature,  the  same 
facts,  the  same  phenomena  —  human  nature,  left  to  itself, 
having  made  no  progression,  but  repeating  itself  till  the 
cycles  of  today  are  only  the  repetition  of  the  cycles  of 
yesterday,  and  all  teaching  us  that,  without  influence  from 
on  high,  human  nature  must  degenerate,  not  improve,  or 
attain  to  that  great  standard  to  which  it  was  originally 
conformed. 

Such  are  some  of  the  features  of  church  and  state  prior 
to  the  Deluge,  and  such  too  are  some  of  the  proofs  that 
these  portraits  are  too  faithfully  copied  by  us,  who  live  in 
the  last  days  of  the  world.  How  humbling  it  is  to  us  all, 
that  we  are  the  descendants  of  such  a  race,  the  inheritors 
of  so  perverted  a  humanity !  How  forcibly  are  we  taught 
by  all  we  have  been  considering,  that  the  domestic  is  the 
first  spring  of  powerful  influence,  either  to  corrupt,  or  to 
improve  mankind !  It  is  in  the  individual  home  that  influ- 
15 


170  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

cnces  begin,  which  go  forth,  like  ministering  angels,  to  bless 
and  beautify  mankind,  or,  like  fiends  and  demons,  to  curse 
and  to  destroy  the  world.  It  Vas  by  intermarriagei?  that 
God  forbade,  that  the  great  elements  of  corruption  were  so 
rapidly  generated.  It  is  still  the  individual  home  that 
makes  the  great  home,  called  the  country.  And  all  reforms, 
ecclesiastical,  social,  political,  however  good  in  themselves, 
are  not  for  one  moment  to  be  compared  with  that  reform 
which  begins  in  the  individual  heart,  fills  with  its  transform- 
ing beauty  the  individual  home,  and  spreads  from  it,  as  from 
a  centre  of  sanctifying  and  holy  influence,  till  the  whole 
country,  or  th^arge  home,  becomes  a  reflection  of  the  little 
one ;  and  nations  are  blessed,  and  mankind  are  benefited, 
by  what  individuals  are  in  their  personal  and  domestic 
relationships. 

One  great  secret  of  the  inveterate  corruption  of  the  heart 
is  its  deceitfulness.  It  is  said  by  the  prophet,  that  it  "is 
deceitful  above  all  things,  and  desperately  wicked."  Now, 
to  be  aware  of  the  heart's  deceitfulness  is  as  important  as  to 
be  aware  of  the  heart's  depravity.  It  is  its  deceitfulness 
that  is  the  vehicle,  as  it  is  always  the  proof,  of  its  great 
depravity.  And  this  deceitfulness  is  seen  by  its  deceiving 
the  judgment  in  the  estimate  of  the  heart.  There  are  few 
men  who  do  not  think  their  hearts  far  better  than  they  are. 
How  often  we  hear  men  say,  Well,  he  did  such  a  thing,  but 
in  the  main  he  has  a  good  heart ;  as  if  there  could  be  a 
good  heart  with  bad  fruit.  Imagination  too,  like  a  hireling 
poet,  sings  the  praises  of  the  heart ;  and  the  judgment,  ever 
listening  to  a  poet  so  sweet  and  congenial  to  itself,  also  joins 
in  the  praises,  and  pronounces,  We  are,  after  all,  not  so  bad 
as  Scripture  describes  us ;  nor  is  our  condition  so  dangerous 
as  the  preacher  tells  us. 

How  often,  too,  does  the  heart  deceive  us  in  our  attach- 
ments in  the  world !     You  will  say  to  yourselves,  I  have  no 


THE    HEART    AS    IT    IS.  171 

undue  attachment  for  money,  I  do  not  think  I  am  covetous ; 
and  that  is  your  real  feeling.  But  let  your  money  be  swept 
away,  let  your  property  be  destroyed,  let  some  great  loss 
overtake  you,  and  fall  upon  your  possessions  like  a  thunder- 
bolt, scattering  and  consuming  all;  and  how  is  it  then? 
You  then  feel  that  your  heart  deceived  you  when  it  told 
you  that  your  attachment  to  this  world's  wealth  was  slight ; 
and  by  the  murmuring  and  the  repining  of  that  heart  at  its 
losses,  you  learn  how  deep,  although  how  undetected,  was 
your  attachment  to  this  world's  good  things. 

The  heart  deceives  us  as  to  our  power  of  resisting  evil. 
You  hear  the  preacher  say  something  against  theatres,  and 
you  say,  I  have  not  the  least  disposition  to  be  affected  by 
this  sin,  or  by  that  vice ;  and  therefore,  you  say,  I  will  go ; 
I  am  not  afraid  to  go ;  I  am  quite  conscious  that  I  shall  not 
catch  any  harm.  You  see,  first,  what  you  do  not  exactly 
like.  You  think  this  is  not  so  pure  as  you  could  have 
wished ;  but  still,  you  think,  it  is  the  custom  of  the  place ; 
and  ultimately  you  come  to  look  upon  things  with  perfect 
complacency,  from  which  you  would  have  revolted  before, 
and  to  admire  sparkling  remarks  with  double  meanings, 
which  once  you  would  have  instinctively  shrunk  from.  And 
thus,  the  heart  deceives  you  to  enter,  because  you  believe  it 
is  impregnable;  afterwards  it  tells  you  how  deceitful,  as 
well  as  how  depraved,  it  is.  There  is,  we  are  told,  above 
the  thundering  cataract  Niagara,  a  broad  and  a  placid 
stream,  so  beautiful  and  smooth,  that  a  boat  plied  by  oars  or 
sails  moves  upon  it  as  upon  a  calm  lake.  You  may  go 
lower  down,  and  an  oar  will  still  manage  the  boat ;  but-  a 
little  further  down  there  is  a  point  where  an  oar  will  fail, 
and  where  the  voyager  and  his  vessel  will  be  carried  irre- 
sistibly onwards,  and  dashed  over  the  impetuous  cataract, 
and  both  will  disappear  together.  In  other  words,  in  all 
moral  evil  there  is  a  point  where  you  will  resist,  and  where 


172  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

you  may  resist  successfully;  but  go  beyond  that  point  — 
play  with  it  —  dare,  brave  it  —  venture  still,  and  you  will 
be  borne  into  its  vortex,  and  retreat  will  be  impossible. 
Or,  to  suppose  another  case,  you  go  into  a  gambling  room. 
To  a  cautious  adviser  your  answer  is,  I  have  no  taste  for 
gambling ;  I  do  not  well  know  how  to  play  cards ;  I  have 
not  the  least  temptation  to  speculate  —  no  such  thing.  You 
see  some  one  whom  you  call  your  friend,  who  is  busily  en- 
gaged in  it.  You  watch  him  play,  and  you  find  him  suc- 
cessful. You  cannot  see  any  great  harm  in  shuffling  a  card, 
or  in  throwing  a  die ;  and  though  you  have  no  liking  for 
gambling,  and  not  the  least  fear  that  you  would  risk  any  thing 
in  it,  you  think  it  would  be  a  very  great  amusement ;  and 
therefore,  to  wile  away  a  few  minutes,  you  sit  down  at  the 
table ;  and  ere  the  night  is  over  you  rise  the  desperate  and 
the  ruined  gambler.  Such  is  the  deceitfulness  of  the  human 
heart ;  it  leads  you  to  believe,  first,  that  it  is  utterly  incapa- 
ble of  this  and  of  that  impression :  you  give  way,  and  you 
find  that  most  unintentionally  you  have  yielded  to  that 
which  plunges  you  in  irreparable  and  deplorable  ruin. 
Sometimes,  when  you  are  told  of  all  these  things,  you  are 
very  apt  to  say,  as  one  said  of  old  (2  Kings  viii.  12,  13)  : 
"  Hazael,"  speaking  to  Elisha,  "  said,  Why  w^eepeth  my 
lord  ?  And  he  answered.  Because  I  know  the  evil  that  thou 
wilt  do  unto  the  children  of  Israel :  their  strongholds  wilt 
thou  set  on  fire,  and  their  young  men  wilt  thou  slay  with  the 
sword,  and  will  dash  their  children,  and  wilt  rip  up  their 
women  with  child.  And  ilazael  said.  But  what,  is  thy  ser- 
vant a  dog  that  he  should  do  this  great  thing  ?  And  Elisha 
answered,  The  Lord  hath  showed  me  that  thou  shalt  be 
king  over  Syria."  And  he  did  all  that  Elisha  said ;  and  yet 
his  first  instinctive  feelings,  suggested  by  the  very  deceitful- 
ness of  his  heart,  were,  that  such  things  are  utterly  im- 
possible. 


THE   HEART   AS   IT   IS.  173 

I  do  not  dwell  longer  upon  this.  Let  us  pray  tkat  all 
of  us  may  possess  the  great  preventive  of,  and  the  only 
antagonist  to,  the  tendencies  of  a  depraved  heart,  namely, 
the  sure  regeneration  of  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  God 
alone  knows  the  heart,  God  alone  can  change  the  heart.  It 
is  still  true,  "  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see 
the  kingdom  of  God."  A  Christian  is  not  the  old  vine 
from  which  one  branch  has  been  lopped  off,  a  vessel  of 
which  one  hole  has  been  stopped  up,  leaving  the  element 
within  to  work  itself  out  in  some  other  channel ;  a  Chris- 
tian is  one  whose  whole  heart  has  been  changed.  In  other 
words,  regeneration  is  not  a  reformation  of  man,  it  is  a 
revolution  of  man ;  it  is  an  entire  transformation  of  all  the 
springs,  and  all  the  thoughts  and  fountains,  of  his  being : 
so  that  all  things  have  become  new,  and  all  old  things  are 
passed  away. 

Make  sure  of  this  change:  it  is  reality,  not  shadow. 
The  subjects  of  this  change  will  not  venture  on  forbidden 
ground ;  they  will  not  tamper  with  the  evil  that  is  seductive 
and  perilous;  they  wdll  learn  to  suspect  far  distant  and 
even  possible  evil ;  and  they  will  ever  pray,  what  will  be 
their  safety  in  proportion  as  they  realize  it,  "  Lead  us  not 
into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil." 

May  God  thus  change  our  hearts,  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen. 

15* 


CHAPTER    X. 

« 

BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE. 

" The  heir  of  heaven,  henceforth  I  dread  not  death; 
In  Christ  I  live,  in  Christ  I  draw  the  breath 
Of  the  true  life.    Let  sea,  and  earth,  and  sky, 
Wage  war  against  me :  on  my  brow  I  show 
The  mighty  Master's  seal.    In  vain  they  try    , 
To  end  my  life,  who  can  but  end  its  woe." 

"  The  like  figure  whereunto  even  baptism  doth  also  now  save  us,  (not  the 
putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh,  but  the  answer  of  a  good  con- 
science toward  God,)  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ." — 1  Pet. 
iii.  21. 

We  find  it  asserted  by  Peter,  that  Jesus  preached  to  the 
antedikivians  previous  to  the  Flood  the  great  truths  of  the 
gospel,  which  he  afterwards  came  to  seal  and  establish  by 
his  death.  He  did  so,  not  immediately,  but  mediately  by 
the  instrumentality  of  Noah,  "  a  preacher  of  righteousness," 
who  preached  to  and  reasoned  with  those  who  were  threat- 
ened destruction  by  the  approaching  flood,  whom  he  pressed 
to  enter  into  the  ark,  and  have  instant  safety.  It  is  said, 
Jesus  did  so  by  his  Spirit,  — "  By  which  Holy  Spirit  he 
went  and  preached."  Thus  we  have  Christ  the  Preacher, 
the  Spirit  the  Inspirer  of  the  message,  and  Noah  the  organ 
of  its  utterance,  or  the  minister. 

"  He  preached,"  it  is  said,  "  to  the  spirits  in  prison."  I 
need  not  state  that  some  have  argued  that  Clirist  descended 
into  a  region  known  by  the  unscriptural  name  of  purgatory, 


BAPTISM    DOTH    SAVE.  175 

and  that  there  he  preached  to  the  inmates  their  approaching 
deliverance.  But  this  is  confounding  things  that  differ  ;  for 
here  it  is  stated  that  Christ  merely  went  and  preached  to 
the  antediluvians  who  were  on  earth  in  the  days  of  Noah, 
and  while  they  were  on  earth,  but  were  in  prison  in  the 
days  of  Peter.  The  historian,  Peter,  says  they  were  in 
prison  in  his  days ;  but  the  preacher,  Noah,  preached  to 
them  whilst  they  were  yet  existing  in  the  flesh  upon  earth. 
These  souls  were  in  the  flesh  when  Christ  preached  to 
them  ;  these  souls  were  in  prison  when  Peter  wrote  con- 
cerning this  fact.  And  any  one  who  reads  history  must 
notice  that  two  things  are  often  predicated  of  the  same 
party  —  the  one  true  when  the  party  spoken  of  was  upon 
earth ;  the  other  true  when  the  historian  who  records  the 
fact  wrote  or  recorded  that  fact.  Now  to  found  the  doc- 
trine of  purgatory  upon  this  is  to  misinterpret  the  passage 
altogether.  Besides,  there  is  a  conclusive  reply  to  any  such 
inference  in  this,  that  purgatory,  as  defined  by  the  Council 
of  Trent,  is  for  the  souls  of  believers,  who  there,  it  alleges, 
are  purified,  and  out  of  which  they  emerge  to  heaven.  But 
those  who  perished  by  the  Flood  were  unbelievers,  and 
therefore,  by  the  very  definition  of  the  doctrine,  they  never 
could  have  entered  purgatory,,  and  from  thence  emerged  to 
heaven.  Whatever  doctrine,  therefore,  this  text  may  sup- 
port, it  is  not  the  doctrine  of  purgatory  as  held  by  the 
Romish  Church.  All  that  is  here  stated  is,  that  there  is  a 
"  prison,"  or  a  place  of  eternal  woe,  which  was  open  in  the 
days  of  Noah,  was  not  closed  in  the  days  of  Peter,  and 
there  is  no  record  that  it  is  closed  now. 

But  I  have  selected  this  passage  as  a  sequel  to  my 
explanations  of  the  history  of  Noah,  in  order  to  illustrate 
the  meaning  of  that  misapprehended,  mistaken,  and  per- 
verted thing,  or  rather  sacrament  or  rite,  which  we  call 
baptism.     For  some  of  the  distinctions  that  I  have  drawn 


176  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

—  distinctions,  I  think,  of  faramount  importance,  I  am 
deeply  indebted  to  a  vecy  able  letter  addressed  by  that 
truly  great  man,  the  Rev.  Dr.  McNeile,  to  the  Bishop  of 
Exeter.  Some  of  his  distinctions  I  cordially  adopt  with 
this  acknowledgment,  as  singularly  precious  and  important 
at  the  present  moment.  It  does  seem,  on  looking  at  this 
passage,  that  the  great  errors  that  have  been  grafted  upon 
baptism  have  arisen  from  confounding  things  that  utterly 
and  totally  differ.  There  is  sprinkling  with  water,  or,  if 
you  like,  immersion  in  water  —  and  there  is  a-  baptism 
which  is  regeneration  in  the  absolute  and  true  sense  of  that 
word ;  but  to  take  the  one  and  apply  it  to  the  other,  is  to 
misapply  and  pervert  the  plainest  passages  of  the  word 
of  God.  The  real  baptism,  strictly  so  called,  is  the  inner 
one  which  the  Holy  Spirit  gives,  while  the  outer  rite  which 
the  minister  bestows,  is  merely  the  recognition  of  that 
previous  inner  baptism  which  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  has 
given. 

But  in  order  to  show  what  Scripture  says  upon  this 
subject,  let  me  refer  to  the  different  senses  in  which  the 
word  baptism  is  used,  and  let  the  reader  mark  and  recollect 
the  texts,  in  order  that  he  may  be  furnished  upon  a  matter 
which  I  hope,  by  God's  blessing,  I  may  make  clear,  and 
upon  which  I  hope  fewer  every  day  hold  the  painful  here- 
sies and  errors  of  Oxford.  Baptism  signifies,  in  the  first 
instance,  suffering.  The  first  proof  I  quote  for  this  is  in 
Luke  xii.  49,  50.  "  I  am  come,"  says  the  Saviour,  "  to  send 
fire  on  the  earth ;  and  what  will  T,  if  it  be  already  kindled  ? 
But  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with ;  and  how  am  I 
straitened  till  it  be  accomplished  ! "  Now  here  is  the  word 
"  baptism  "  used  in  no  sense  in  connection  with  water  at  all. 
My  conviction  is  that  the  word  hapto,  or  rather  haptizo,  or, 
as  we  call  it  in  Scotland,  haptidzo,  in  its  strict  sense,  has 
nothing  to  do  with  water  dipping,  or  immersion,  but  is  used 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE.  177 

in  relation  to  consecration,  or  devotion,  or  being  set  apart. 
Our  Saviour  says,  "  I  have  a  baptism  to  be  baptized  with,'* 

—  and  this  was  after  his  baptism  by  John,  —  and  he  was 
straitened  till  that  baptism  should  be  passed  through,  thus 
clearly  alluding  to  the  sufferings  which  he  was  very  soon  to 
undergo.  We  find  the  same  use  of  the  word  in  Mark  x.  38. 
"  But  Jesus  said  tmto  them.  Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask :  can 
ye  drink  of  the  cup  that  I  drink  of?"  —  meaning  plainly 
his  cup  of  suffering  — "  and  be  baptized  with  the  baptism 
that  I  am  baptized  with  ?  "  This  is  not  water  baptism  in 
any  sense  or  shape,  but  simply  agony,  suffering,  pain.  Now, 
I  answer,  taking  baptism  in  this  its  first  Scriptural  sense, 
such  baptism  doth  not  save,  such  baptism  is  not  salvation, 
nor  regeneration,  nor  conversion,  nor  renewal  of  heart. 
For  will  it  be  alleged,  that  any  sufferings  of  any  one  who 
could  thus  be  baptized  are  expiatory  ?  What  Jesus  says  is, 
"  I  have  a  baptism  that  ye  cannot  be  baptized  with ; "  that 
is,  "  I  am  to  undergo  sufferings  that  are  in  their  nature 
expiatory  or  atoning,  and  no  sufferings  of  yours  can  in  any 
sense  whatever  be  expiatory  or  atoning ;  and  therefore  you 
cannot  be  baptized  with  my  baptism."  And  we  ourselves 
are  persuaded,  that  no  tears  which  a  penitent  can  shed  can 
wash  away  the  least  taint  of  the  transgression  of  a  thought, 

—  no  blood  that  a  martyr  can  pour  forth  can  cleanse  away 
our  sins.  Those  who  emerged  from  great  tribulation,  and 
had  their  robes  made  white  and  sparkling  like  the  driven 
snow,  had  washed  their  robes,  not  in  their  own  blood, 
but  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  And  here  the  inference 
is,  that  no  sufferings  which  we  can  undergo  can  expiate 
our  sins,  or  make  atonement  for  our  souls,  for  if  they 
can  really  do  so,  then  they  have  such  an  efficacy  as 
ought  to  render  unnecessary  the  atonement  and  sacrifice 
of  Jesus. 

The  next  sense  in  which  baptism  is  used  in  Scripture  is, 


178  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD.       ' 

endowment  with  the  miraculoas  powers  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Baptism  means  investiture  or  endowment  with  the  miracu- 
lous powers  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  I  turn  first  to  Matthew  iii. 
11,  where  John  is  recorded  to  have  said,  "  I  indeed  baptize 
you  with  water  "  —  you  observe,  baptism  is  not  necessarily 
connected  with  water  —  so  much  so,  that  John  adds  "  with 
water,"  in  order  to  distinguish  —  "I  indeed  baptize  you 
with  water  nnto  repentance :  but  he  that  cometh  after  me  is 
mightier  than  I,  whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  bear :  he 
shall  baptize  you'  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  with  fire." 
Therefore,  the  word  "  baptism "  has  nothing  to  do  essentially 
and  inseparably  with  water.  You  may  be  baptized  with 
water,  or  you  may  be  baptized  with  fire,  or  you  may  be 
baptized  with  sufferings.  It  means  any  of  them,  or  all  of 
them  together,  not  necessarily  any  one  particularly.  So 
again,  in  Acts  i.  5.  "  For  John  truly  baptized  with  water  " 
—  that  is  one  baptism ;  "  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence  "  —  that  is,  endowed  with 
the  miraculous  powers  of  the  lioly  Spirit,  which  is  another 
baptism.  So  again,  the  word  is  used  in  the  same  sense  in 
Acts  xi.  15.  "  As  I  began  to  speak,  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on 
them,  as  on  us  at  the  beginning.  Then  remembered  I  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  how  that  he  said,  John  indeed  baptized 
with  water  "  —  that  was  his  function ;  "  but  ye  shall  be  bap- 
tized with  the  Holy  Ghost ; "  that  is,  endowed,  as  the  sequel 
proves,  with  miraculous  powers.  Now,  having  ascertained 
this  second  sense  of  haptisma,  or  of  the  verb  haptizo,  I  add, 
that  this  baptism  is  not  necessarily  regeneration  —  this 
baptism  confessedly  does  not  save.  You  say.  Why?  I 
answer.  Because  our  blessed  Lord  says,  "  Many  will  say  to 
me  in  that  day.  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not  prophesied  in  thy 
name  ?  and  in  thy  name  have  cast  out  devils  ?  and  in  thy 
name  done  many  wonderful  works  ?  "  (that  is,  been  baptized 
in  this  sense  with  the  miraculous  powers  of  the  Holy  Ghost). 


BAPTISM   DOTII    SAVE.  179 

"And  then  will  I  profess  unto  tliem,  I  never  knew  you; 
depart  from  me,  ye  that  work  iniquity."  Judas  was  thus 
baptized  if  the  other  Apostles  were,  and  did  miracles  like 
the  other  Apostles,  and  yet  the  record  is  distinct,  that  Judas 
went  "  to  his  own  place."  It  is  plain  that  there  is  a  baptism 
that  is  not  regeneration,  namely,  the  baptism  which  is  the 
endowment  with  the  miraculous  powers  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
with  which  men  have  been  invested,  endowed,  or  baptized, 
but  who  have  proceeded  to  the  prison  of  lost  spirits,  unfor- 
given  and  unrenewed,  strangers  to  regeneration. 

The  third  sense  of  baptism  is,  an  outward  rite  with 
water,  or  what  John  calls  baptizing  "  with  water."  Some 
evidences  of  this  I  also  give,  though,  of  course,  such  are 
not  so  necessary;  but  as  I  have  given  the  others,  I  give 
these  too.  In  Acts  viii.  26,  we  have  the  following:  "And 
the  angel  of  the  Lord  spake  unto  Philip,  saying,  Arise,  and 
go  toward  the  south  unto  the  way  that  goeth  down  from 
Jerusalem  unto  Gaza,  which  is  desert.  And  he  arose  and 
w^ent :  and,  behold,  a  man  of  Ethiopia,  an  eunuch  of  great 
authority  under  Candace,  queen  of  the  Ethiopians,  who  had 
the  charge  of  all  her  treasure,  and  had  come  to  Jerusalem 
for  to  worship,  was  returning,  and  sitting  in  his  chariot, 
read  Esaias  the  prophet.  Then  the  Spirit  said  unto  Philip, 
Go  near,  and  join  thyself  to  this  chariot.  And  Philip  ran 
thither  to  him,  and  heard  him  read  the  prophet  Esaias,  and 
said,  Understandest  thou  what  thou  readest  ?  And  he  said, 
How  can  I,  except  some  man  should  guide  me  ?  And  he 
desired  Philip  that  he  would  come  up  and  sit  with  him. 
The  place  of  the  Scripture  which  he  read  was  this.  He  was 
led  as  a  sheep  to  the  slaughter;  and  like  a  lamb  dumb 
before  his  shearer,  so  opened  he  not  his  mouth:  in  his 
humiliation  his  judgment  was  taken  away :  and  who  shall 
declare  his  generation  ?  for  his  life  is  taken  from  the  earth. 
And  the  eunuch  answered  Philip,  and  said,  I  pray  thee, 


180  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

of  whom  speaketh  the  prophet  this  ?  of  himself,  or  of  some 
other  man  ?  Then  Philip  opened  his  mouth,  and  began  at 
the  same  Scripture,  and  preached  unto  him  Jesus.  And  as 
they  went  on  their  way,"  after  this  evidence  of  conversion, 
"they  came  unto  a  certain  water:  and  the  eunuch  said, 
See,  here  is  water ;  what  doth  hinder  me  to  be  baptized  ?  " 
"With  what  ?  "Water.  "  And  Philip  said.  If  thou  believest 
with  all  thine  heart,  thou  mayest."  That  is  the  prerequisite 
of  baptism  in  the  case  of  an  adult,  for  of  this  only  I  am 
now  speaking.  "  And  he  answered  and  said,  I  believe  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  Son  of  God.  And  he  commanded  the 
chariot  to  stand  still :  and  they  went  down  both  into  the 
water,  both  Philip  and  the  eunuch ;  and  he  baptized  him." 
I  may  just  note,  as  I  pass,  that  there  is  no  proof  here  that 
the  eunuch  was  immersed.  I  am  not  discussing  whether 
immersion  or  sprinkling  is  right  —  in  my  opinion  either  is 
sufficient ;  but  this  passage  does  not  prove  immersion  more 
than  sprinkling ;  for  it  is  said,  that  not  only  did  the  eunuch 
go  into  the  water,  but  that  Philip  went  also ;  they  both 
went  into  the  water;  but  the  most  severe  advocate  of 
immersion,  at  least  so  I  believe,  for  I  have  never  seen  an 
immersion,  will  not  hold  that  both  the  minister  and  the 
recipient  ought  to  be  immersed  in  the  water  at  the  same 
time.  Thus,  we  have  an  evidence  of  the  strict  sense  of 
baptism  with  water.  So  again,  in  Acts  x.  44 :  "  While 
Peter  yet  spake  these  words,  the  Holy  Ghost  fell  on  all 
them  which  heard  the  word.  And  they  of  the  circumcision 
which  believed  were  astonished,  as  many  as  came  with 
Peter,  because  that  on  the  Gentiles  also  was  poured  out  the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost,"  that  is,  evidently,  the  miraculous 
gift.  "For  they  heard  them  speak  with  tongues,  and 
magnify  God.  Then  answered  Peter,  Can  any  man  forbid 
water,  that  these  should  not  be  baptized,  which  have 
received  the  Holy  Ghost  as  well  as  we?     And  he  com- 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE.  181 

manded  them  to.  be  baptized "  —  witb  water  that  is  —  "in 
the  name  of  the  Lord.  Then  prayed  they  him  to  tarry 
certain  days."  Now  those  two  passages  are  illustrations 
of  the  enforcement  and  fulfilment  of  our  blessed  Lord's 
command,  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all  nations,  bap- 
tizing them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost."  In  quoting,  however,  that  commission, 
I  may  just  notice,  that  there  are  two  distinct  words  used  in 
the  original,  each  of  which  our  translators  unfortunately 
render  "  teach."  Our  translation  is,  "  Go  ye,  therefore, 
and  teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost :  teacl^ing 
them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded 
you."  Now  those  two  words  rendered  "  teach  "  and  "  teach- 
ing," are  perfectly  distinct  in  the  original  tongue.  I  will 
give  you  the  exact  and  faithful  translation.  "  Go  and 
discipleize  all  nations,  baptizing,"  or,  if  you  like,  "by 
baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son, 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost : "  and  then,  subsequently  to  their 
baptism,  "teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatsoever 
I  have  commanded  you;  and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  We  have  thus,  then, 
baptism  used  in  the  sense  in  which  it  is  commonly  accepted, 
as  baptism  with  water.  Now  I  assert,  this  baptism  doth 
not  necessarily  save  —  this  baptism  is  not  necessarily  regen- 
eration ;  for,  as  I  shall  show  in  a  subsequent  part  of  my 
statement,  and  one  instance  is  conclusive,  there  have  been 
cases  where  men  have  been  baptized  in  this  third  sense, 
and  yet  have  not  been  regenerate,  —  where  they  have  been 
sprinkled  with  w^ter,  or  dipped  in  water,  which  you  please, 
and  yet  they  have  remained  just  as  they  were,  "  dead  in 
trespasses  and  sins." 

Now,  then,  I  refer  to  the  fourth  sense  in  which  the  word 
"  baptism"  is  used — the  baptism  that  really  is  regeneration, 
16 


182  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

and  in  which  sense  you  may  use  and  apply  the  word  "  bap- 
tism," provided  the  party,  in  whose  hearing  you  apply  it, 
clearly  understands  your  meaning.  I  refer  to  Romans  vi.  3, 
"  Know  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  baptized  into 
Jesus  Christ,  were  baptized  into  his  death  ?  "  But  what  is 
the  consequence  of  that  baptism  —  the  invariable  conse- 
quence ?  "  Therefore  we,"  the  subjects  of  it,  "  are  buried 
with  him  by  baptism  into  death:  that  like  as  Christ  was 
raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  even  so 
we,"  the  subjects  of  it,  "  also  should  walk  in  newness  of 
life.  For  if  we,"  the  subjects  of  it,  "have  been  planted 
together  in  the  likeness  of  his  death,  we,"  the  same  subjects 
of  this  baptism,  "  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of  his  resur- 
rection: knowing  this,  that  our  old  man  is  crucified  with 
him,  that  the  body  of  sin  might  be  destroyed,  that  hence- 
forth we  should  not  serve  sin.  For  he  that  is  dead "  — 
buried  with  him  by  this  baptism  —  "  is  freed  from  sin.  Now 
if  we  be  dead  with  Christ,"  in  virtue  of  this  baptism,  "  we 
believe  that  we  shall  also  live  with  him."  Now  you  may 
just  substitute  for  "baptism"  there  the  word  "conver- 
sion "  — "  Know  ye  not,  that  so  many  of  us  as  were  con- 
verted, renewed,  made  new  into  Jesus  Christ,  were  con- 
verted into  his  death  ?  Therefore  we  are  buried  with  him 
by  regeneration  or  renewal  into  death :  that  like  as  Christ 
was  raised  up  from  the  dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
even  so  we  also  should  walk  in  newness  of  life.  For  if  we 
have  been  renewed,  or  converted,  or  regenerated  together  in 
the  likeness  of  his  death,  we  shall  be  also  in  the  likeness  of 
his  resurrection."  I  quote  another  passage — Col.  ii.  10. 
"And  ye  are  complete  in  Christ,  which  is  the  head  of  all 
principality  and  power :  in  whom  also  ye  are  circumcised," 
using  it  in  the  sense  of  baptism,  as  the  next  verse  shows, 
"  with  the  circumcision  made  without  hands,"  that  is,  not  the 
outward  rite,  but  this,  namely,  "  in  putting  off  the  body  of 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVS.  183 

the  sins  of  the  flesh  by  the  circumcision  of  Christ :  buried 
with  him  in  baptism,  wherein  also  ye  are  risen  with  him 
tlirough  the  faith  of  the  operation  of  God,  who  hath  raised 
him  from  the  dead.  And  you,  bei1%  dead  in  your  sins  and 
the  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh,  hath  he  quickened  to- 
gether with  him,  having  forgiven  you  all  trespasses ;  blot- 
ting out  the  handwriting  of  ordinances  that  was  against  us, 
which  was  contrary  to  us,  and  took  it  out  of  the  way,  nail- 
ing it  to  his  cross."  Now  the  subjects  of  this  burial  in  bap- 
tism with  Christ  are  declared  to  be  regenerated  men :  in 
this  sense  baptism  is  conversion ;  in  this  sense,  according  to 
Peter,  baptism  doth  save  us,  and  in  this  sense  the  thief  upon 
the  cross  was  baptized;  but  he  was  never  baptized  with 
water,  for  he  never  had  the  opportunity,  and  yet  he  was 
baptized  with  that  baptism  not  made  with  hands,  that  is, 
with  the  inner  baptism  of  the  Ploly  Spirit  of  God,  and  be- 
came therefore  a  new  creature.  And  it  is  a  remarkable 
fact,  which  shows  that  the  outer  baptism  is  neither  the  inner 
baptism,  nor  essential  even  to  it,  though  dutiful  in  an  orderly 
and  rightly  constituted  church,  that  there  is  not  one  record 
in  the  New  Testament  that  any  one  of  the  apostles  was 
baptized.  Now  it  seems  a  remarkable  thing,  and  one  would 
think  it  would  strike  with  great  force  those  who  hold  baptis- 
mal regeneration,  that  there  is  positively  no  evidence  in  the 
whole  New  Testament  that  the  apostles  were  baptized,  and 
there  is  no  evidence  that  they  thought  that  that  outer  bap- 
tism with  water  was  necessarily  a  saving  and  a  sanctifying 
grace.  And  as  we  have  evidence  that  the  thief  upon  the 
cross  was  baptized  with  that  baptism  which  is  saving  and  is 
regeneration,  therefore  we  say  that  outer  baptism  is  not 
essential  in  every  case ;  and  as  we  have  no  proof  that  the 
apostles  were  baptized  with  water,  but  overwhelming  proof 
that  they  had  that  inner  and  true  baptism,  which  is  the  bap- 
tism of  th*e  Holy  Ghost,  we  have  therefore  evidence  that 


184  THE   CHUKCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

there  is  an  inner  baptism  that  is  essential,  and  an  outer 
baptism  dutiful  in  ordinary  circumstances,  but  not  necessary 
in  all  circumstances.  Perhaps  some  will  say  that  we  can- 
not accept  your  assertron  that  the  apostles  were  not  bap- 
tized. I  do  not  absolutely  assert  it,  all  I  say  is  that  there  is 
no  record  of  it  in  the  New  Testament.  But  if  any  choose 
to  persist  in  the  opposite  assertion,  that  the  apostles  were 
baptized,  it  will  only  in  another  way  establish  my  point  the 
more ;  for  if  all  the  apostles  were  baptized,  Judas  was  also 
baptized;  and  therefore  he  had  the  outer  baptism  with 
water  and  perished  with  it,  whilst  the  thief  upon  the  cross 
had  the  inner  baptism  without  water,  and  was  saved,  and 
that  very  day  admitted  into  paradise. 

There  are  thus  four  senses  in  which  baptism  is  used,  and 
in  the  last  sense  we  find  that  that  baptism  is  a  saving  power ; 
but  for  men  to  allege  that  baptism  with  water  is  necessarily 
to  be  charged  with  all  the  effects  of  the  other  three  bap- 
tisms, is  to  confound  things  that  clearly  differ,  and  differ  to 
the  plainest  reader,  throughout  the  whole  word  of  God. 
Therefore,  when  any  man  says  to  you,  "  Baptism  is  regen- 
eration," do  not  say,  "  It  is  not "  —  that  is  not  the  way  to 
reply;  but  ask  him  to  define  his  terms  —  ask  him  which 
baptism?  If  he  say«  that  baptism  is  the  regeneration  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  it  certainly  is  so ;  but  if  he  says  that  bap- 
tism with  water  is  essentially  regeneration,  then  he  is 
wrong,  and  is  proclaiming  a  heresy  as  deadly  and  as  mis- 
chievous, in  its  consequences,  as  its  correlative  and  sister 
heresy,  transubstantiation :  for  the  party  who  makes  baptism 
with  water  regeneration,  does  with  one  sacrament  what 
others,  who  make  the  bread  and  wine  the  literal  body  and 
blood  of  Christ,  do  with  the  other  sacrament.  The  one 
ascribes  to  the  water  the  virtues  which  belong  to  the  Holy 
Spirit;  the  others  pretend  to  change  the  bread  and  wine 
into  the  Deity  and  humanity  of  Jesus.     Both  equally  per- 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE.  185 

vert  signs  by  turning  them  into  substances,  instead  of  hold- 
ing them  as  the  signs  of  great  and  precious  truths.  Let  us, 
therefore,  keep  these  baptisms  distinct,  as  I  have  now  en- 
deavored to  show  them,  and  there  will  be  no  possible  misap- 
prehension about  the  meaning  of  the  rite  of  baptism.  I 
would  add,  while  on  this  subject,  that  there  is  a  creed  about 
which  a  very  acute  and  talented  prelate  has  made  a  great 
deal  of  noise,  the  Nicene  Creed.  Now  he  says,  and  says 
truly,  there  is  in  that  creed  this  sentence,  "  One  baptism  for 
the  remission  of  sins ; "  and  every  reply  that  he  makes  to 
any  poor  curate  who  dares  to  doubt  that  water  baptism  is 
regeneration,  is  ever  eloquent  of  this;  "One  baptism  for 
the  remission  of  sins  ; "  "  one  baptism  for  the  remission  of 
sins."  Now,  in  answer  to  this,  I  would  say,  I  believe  that 
there  is  one  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins,  but  the  bap- 
tism, my  lord,  which  I  thus  regard,  is  not  the  baptism  which 
you  mean,  namely,  with  water,  which  is  the  one  baptism, 
according  to  you,  for  the  remission  of  sins ;  but  it  is  the* 
baptism  which  I  quoted  from  the  Colossians  and  the 
Romans,  and  which  an  apostle  holds  to  be  most  truly  the 
remission  of  sins  —  a  baptism  that  neither  presbyter  nor 
prelate  can  give,  the  sovereign  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  at 
all  times,  and  in  all  ages.  I  may  just  add,  what  is  in  no 
less  conformity  with  what  I  have  said,  that  the  text  upon 
which  I  am  commenting,  makes  the  distinction  in  the  most 
unmistakable  terms ;  for  what  does  Peter  say  ?  He  evi- 
dently anticipated  the  perversion  that  would  be  made  of  his 
meaning,  for  he  says,  "  The  like  figure  whereunto  even  bap- 
tism doth  also  now  save  us  ; "  but  now  mark  what  he  adds, 
("  not  the  putting  away  of  the  filth  of  the  flesh ;  but  the 
answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God ; ")  or,  tra'hslated 
into  what  is  plainly  the  idea  that  the  apostle  meant,  "  The 
like  figure  whereunto  baptism  doth  also  now  save  us ;  not 
water  baptism,  not  washing  outside,  but  the  answer  of  a 
16* 


186  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

good  conscience ; "  which,  as  I  shall  show,  is  requisite  alike 
for  approach  to  the  Lord's  table,  and  for  acceptance  of  the 
baptismal  rite  —  "  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward 
God,  by  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ."  We,  therefore, 
see  from  Peter's  own  statement,  that  there  may  be  a  bap- 
tism which  is  not  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience,  as  there 
is  a  baptism  which  is  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience.  In 
other  words,  there  may  be,  says  Peter,  the  ecclesiastical 
rite;  there  may  not  be,  under  it,  and  with  it,  and  insepara- 
ble from  it,  the  inner  and  the  spiritual  change  —  in  short, 
there  may  be  the  outer  baptism,  and  not  the  inner.  There 
may  be  the  washing  of  the  forehead,  and  not  the  washing 
of  the  heart.  The  great  work  of  the  gospel  is  the  inner 
one ;  and  if  men  would  only  recollect,  in  these  days  of  dis- 
putes about  a  thousand  extrinsic  points,  that  the  kingdom 
of  God  is  not  "  meat  nor  drink,"  not  dipping  or  sprinkling, 
not  baptism  with  water,  or  any  other,  but  is  "  righteousness, 
and  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  they  would  esti- 
mate all  signs,  ceremonies,  and  rites,  by  the  inner  results  to 
which  they  conduct,  and  would  not  put  the  one  in  the  room 
of  the  other.  Thus  there  is  a  baptism  which  is  strictly  and 
properly  regeneration  —  that  which  the  Holy  Spirit  be- 
stows ;  and  there  is  a  baptism  which  is  not  regeneration,  but 
the  simple  sign  of  it  —  that  which  the  minister  can  give. 
If  we  would  also  ever  recollect  another  fact,  I  think  we 
should  not  confound  things  that  differ ;  namely,  that  there 
is  a  visible  church,  with  visible  ceremonies,  and  that  there 
is  an  inner  church,  visible  as  man  may  be,  but  undefinable 
in  its  limits  by  us,  being  characterized  by  the  inner  change 
and  inner  feelings ;  and  the  one  corresponding  to  the  other, 
as  the -shell  corresponds  with  the  kernel.  You  have  in  the 
outer  church,  baptism  with  water ;  you  have  in  the  inner 
church,  baptism  with  the  Holy  Spirit;  you  have  in  the 
outer  church,  communion  with  those  who  are  partaking  of 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE.  187 

the  bread  and  wine  upon  the  table ;  you  have  in  the  inner 
church,  that  communion  which  is  the  consciousness  of  our 
fellowship  and  communion  with  God  the  Father,  and  with 
his  Son  Jesus  Christ ;  and  these  two  correspond  the  one  to 
the  other.  The  minister  can  distribute  the  bread  and  wine, 
and  can  administer  the  sacrament  of  baptism  to  outer  re- 
cipients, but  the  Holy  Spirit  alone,  when  and  where  he 
pleases,  can  give  the  inner  baptism ;  and  the  Lord  Jesus, 
when  and  where  he  pleases,  can  establish  the  inner  and 
true  communion  with  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit. 

What  is  this  inner  baptism  which  is  here  declared  to  be 
so  vital,  and  which  is  not  the  necessary  and  the  inseparable 
accompaniment  of  that  outer  baptism  which  has  been  so 
often  and  so  fruitlessly  administered  ?  It  is  said  to  be,  "  The 
answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God."  Now  what  is 
meant  by  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience  toward  God? 
The  very  first  idea  that  is  suggested,  and  the  essential  defi- 
nition of  that  idea,  is  found  in  Heb.  ix.  13,  "  For  if  the 
blood  of  bulls  and  of  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer, 
sprinkling  the  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purifying  of  the 
flesh  "  —  that  is,  an  outer  rite,  an  outer  ceremony  —  "-how 
much  more  shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who  through  the  eter- 
nal Spirit  offered  himself  without  spot  to  God,  purge  your 
conscience  from  dead  works  to  serve  the  living  God!" 
Here,  then,  is  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience  —  it  is,  in  its 
first  and  essential  feature,  a  conscience  cleansed  by  the 
blood  of  Christ  Jesus ;  and  the  true  baptism  is  referred  to, 
in  connection  with  this,  in  the  beautiful  announcement  of 
which  Luther  made  so  much,  but  of  which  we  make  so 
little,  "  The  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  from 
all  sin ; "  or  if  you  like,  "  baptizeth  us  from  all  sin ; "  for  I 
do  not  think  that  ^ajtri^cx)  and  Kad^aincj  are  essentially  differ- 
ent ;  and  if  you  ask  me  what  is  the  baptism  that  each  con- 
verted man  must  have,  I  would  answer,  it  is  that  baptism 


188  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

which  is  announced  in  these  words,  and  free  to  all,  like  the 
air  we  breathe,  like  the  light  we  see,  like  the  waves  of  the 
great  deep  —  "  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  baptizeth, 
or  cleanseth,  us  from  all  sin."  What  therefore  we  have  to 
do  first  in  order  to  get  that  true  baptism,  whether  we  have 
been  baptized  in  infancy  or  in  riper  years,  or  whether  we 
have  not  been  baptized  at  all ;  the  baptism  that  is  instantly 
obligatory  upon  us,  the  baptism  without  which  we  cannot 
be  forgiven,  the  baptism  which  we  press  as  our  privilege  at 
this  very  moment,  is  instant  confidence  in  this,  "  The  blood 
of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son  cleanseth  us  "  from  venial  sin  and 
mortal  sin,  sin  of  thought,  sin  of  word,  sin  of  deed,  all  past 
transgressions  —  no  sin  is  so  deep  in  its  dye  that  it  will  not 
expunge  it ;  no  sinner  so  inveterate  in  his  sins  that  it  will 
not  forgive  him ;  but  an  universal  amnesty  for  all  that  will, 
in  the  blood  of  sprinkling,  now,  or,  it  may  be,  never.  Have 
we  consciences  thus  baptized  ?  Have  our  hearts  been  thus 
cleansed  by  the  blood  of  Jesus?  To  ascribe  this  great 
efficacy  to  any  rite,  or  ceremony,  or  sacrament,  is  to  try  to 
steal  a  ray  of  glory  from  the  Lord  of  the  sacrament,  and  to 
put  it  on  the  sacrament ;  and  whoever  does  so  will  find  that 
ray  of  glory  convey  a  curse  only  into  his  own  bosom.  The 
only  end  of  making  baptism  by  water  do  what  regeneration 
does,  is  to  exalt  the  priest,  to  magnify  the  ceremony,  and  to 
put  a  precious  rite,  precious  in  its  place,  in  the  room  of  Him 
who  often  acts  through  means,  often  without  means,  and 
sometimes  in  spite  of  and  -against  means.  If  there  be  one 
truth  in  Protestant  Christianity  more  real  and  precious  than 
another,  it  is  this,  that  it  brings  us  at  once  into  contact  and 
communion  with  Gt)d ;  and  it  is  the  grand  characteristic  of 
every  tiling  that  usurps  its  place,  that  it  keeps  us  trifling 
with  the  minister,  or  amused  with  the  ceremony,  or  in  con- 
tact with  the  sacrament,  or  stopping  at  some  of  the  porches 
and  outer  gates  of  the  sanctuary,  instead  of  leading  us  to 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE.  189 

the  very  lioly  of  holies,  and  there  encouraging  us  to  hold 
communion  and  fellowship  face  to  face  with  God.  This  is 
the  great  feature,  this  is  the  precious  characteristic,  of  all 
true  and  scriptural  religion.  Have  our  consciences  been 
thus  baptized?  Will  you  allow  me,  my  dear  reader,  to 
question  your  conscience  ?  I  do  not  want  you  to  answer 
me,  but  yourself  to  answ^er  God ;  and  to  ascertain,  by  the 
answer  that  you  have  within,  whether  your  conscience  has 
been  baptized  in  that  blood  of  sprinkling  which  cleanseth 
from  all  sin. 

First,  then,  I  ask,  what  think  you  of  Christ?  What 
answer  do  you  give  to  that?  What  weight  do  you  lay 
upon  his  death?  What  do  you  think  of  his  atonement? 
What  is  he  to  you  ?  Would  you  be  what  you  are  now,  if 
you  had  never  heard  the  majestic  truth,  a  God  has  suffered 
that  sinners  might  be  redeemed  ?  Do  you  count  all  but  loss 
for  the  excellency  of  him  ?  Would  you  be  ready  to  part 
with  all  for  his  sake  ?  Can  you  say.  He  is  my  only  Media- 
tor ;  his  blood  my  only  trust,  his  death  my  only  hope ;  his 
finished  work  my  only  plea,  and  title  to  immortality  and 
glory  ?  If  your  conscience  can  say.  Yes,  so  far  as  that 
question  goes,  you  have  the  answer  of  a  good  conscience 
toward  God. 

Let  me  ask,  in  the  next  place,  what  is  your  hope,  and 
what  is  your  feeling  towards  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God  ?  Are 
you  satisfied  with  baptism  with  water  ?  Are  you  satisfied 
with  being  decent  with  a  decent  externalism?  Are  you 
satisfied  with  being  a  man  of  indifferent  life,  but  having,  on 
the  whole,  a  good  heart  —  one  of  the  greatest  possible  mis- 
statements and  misapprehensions  ?  Do*  you  feel,  in  all  its 
force,  this  great  prerequisite  of  heaven,  "  Except  a  man  be 
born  again,"  it  matters  not  who  he  is,  from  the  highest 
monarch  to  the  meanest  subject,  —  "  except  a  man  be  born 
again  "  —  what  a  change !  what  a  revolution !  a  transition 


190  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

from  one  state  totally  distinct  from  the  state  into  which  you 
are  introduced,  —  "  except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot " 
even  "  see,"  much  less  "  enter  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Do  you  feel,  therefore,  that  that  change  must  pass  upon 
you  ?  Is  it  your  petition  that  that  change  may  pass  upon 
you  ?  Is  it  your  feeling,  that  though  there  may  be  much 
alloy  to  be  removed,  much  dross,  much  deficiency,  that  yet 
your  heart  loves  what  once  it  hated,  delights  in  what  once 
it  had  no  pleasure  in,  and  cleaves  to  Him  to  whom  it  never 
clave  supremely  before  ?  I  say  supremely,  because  a  man 
should  love  his  profession,  but  not  supremely.  Men  gen- 
erally perish,  not  by  the  love  of  the  forbidden,  but  through 
the  excessive  love  of  that  which  is  perfectly  lawful. 

Let  me  ask,  in  the  third  place,  what  is  your  opinion  of 
God  the  Father?  Do  you  think  of  him  with  terror? 
Does  your  conscience,  like  poor  Eve,  run  from  the  sound 
of  his  footstep,  and  seek  a  hiding-place,  not  amid  the 
bowers  of  the  gai-den,  but  amid  the  follies,  and  the  vanities, 
and  the  frivolities  of  this  present  world  ?  Or  do  you  feel 
his  presence  delightful  ?  Would  you  feel,  while  you  were 
writing  in  your  ledger,  if  God  were  visibly  to  look  on,  that 
you  could  not  stand  it  ?  If  it  be  so,  then  there  is  something 
in  that  ledger  that  ought  not  to  be  there.  Do  you  feel, 
when  you  are  in  your  counting-house,  and  adjusting  your 
losses  and  your  gains,  that  if  God  were  to  come  in,  all 
would  be  wrong  ?  The  Papal  idea  is  more  or  less  in  us  all. 
We  think  it  is  all  very  well  to  keep  God  within  the  four 
walls  of  the  church ;  but  we  will  have  nothing  to  do  with 
him  outside.  You  come  within  the  walls  of  the  sanctuary 
to  learn  the  lessons  that  you  are  to  go  forth  in  the  world  to 
carry  out ;  at  your  counting-houses,  where  you  may  do  very 
much  active  good,  or  at  your  desk,  or  upon  the  ocean,  or  in 
the  parliament,  or  in  the  defence  of  your  rights  and  liber- 
ties.    For  in  -all  these  things  you  are  doing  God's  work,  as 


BAPTISM   DOTH    SAVE.  191 

truly  as  I  do,  when  from  the  heart  I  speak  to  the  hearts 
of  my  people.  Christianity  is  not  a  Sunday  garment,  to 
put  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  and  then  to  be  immediately 
taken  off  the  wearer,  fearful  lest  it  should  be  soiled  in  the 
world's  dusty  roads  —  that  is  not  Christianity.  Christianity 
is  not  a  splendid  procession,  a  gorgeous  ceremony,  a  beauti- 
ful rite ;  but  it  is  righteousness,  and  peace,  and  joy  in  the 
Holy  Ghost.  What  is  your  view,  then,  of  God  ?  Do  you 
think  of  him  with  awe,  with  dismay  ?  Do  you  pray  to  him 
exactly  as  a  criminal  in  the  dock  would  do  to  a  judge  about 
to  pronounce  sentence  upon  him  ?  —  that  is  not  Christianity. 
You  may  go  to  God,  if  you  are  baptized  with  the  true 
baptism,  not  as  a  criminal,  to  deprecate  his  wrath,  but  as  a 
son  and  child,  to  seek  a  Father's  gi^and  benediction.  It  is 
the  grand  peculiarity  of  the  gospel,  that  it  brings  us  into 
communion  with  God  the  Father,  and  that  we  may  approach 
hini  with  confiding  love,  with  all  the  absence  of  suspicion 
with  which  a  loving  child  flies  to  the  bosom  of  its  loving 
mother,  finding  there  a  shelter  from  the  stranger's  gaze,  and 
a  protection  from  the  perils  that  assaif ;  complete,  unsus- 
pected, and  entire.  I  believe  that  there  is  no  better  test 
of  our  Christianity,  than  the  feelings  that  we  have  in  refer- 
ence to  God. 

What  think  you  of  death  ?  Let  conscience  answer  that. 
I  do  not  say  you  should  love  death  —  that  would  be  absurd. 
I  have  often  said,  that  I  believe  death  to  be  a  most 
unnatural  thing ;  have  you  not  noticed  that  the  brute  crea- 
tion feel  it  so  ?  When  a  dog  dies,  as  if  conscious  that  death 
is  the  projected  shadow  of  Adam's  sin,  he  runs  into  a  hole 
or  nook  that  none  may  look  on.  What  is  that  but  the  brute 
creation  groaning  for  deliverance,  and  giving  evidence  that 
sin  has  entered,  and  so  death  has  passed  upon  all.  I  do 
not  ask  you,  then,  do  you  seek  to  die ;  I  do  not  say  that  you 
should  love  death  —  we  cannot  love  it — it  is  impossible; 


192  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD, 

but  I  ask,  if  it  were  to  come,  wliicli  it  must,  and  it  is  well 
we  know  not  when  —  whether  it  overtakes  you  in  its  dread- 
est  aspect,  as  in  the  case  of  the  crew  of  the  Amazon,  or 
whether  it  comes  in  its  more  quiet  movements,  when  sur- 
rounded with  sympathizing  friends  —  I  ask,  if  it  come  as  a 
friend,  could  you  say,  I  will  welcome  it  ?  If  it  come  as  a 
foe,  could  you  say,  I  will  defy  it;  and  will  be  content  to 
pass  through  the  valley,  drear  and  dark  as  it  is,  for  the 
sake  of  what  is  beyond  it  —  I  will  enter  it  with  unfaltering 
footstep,  for  "  thy  rod  and  thy  staff  they  comfort  me  ?  " 

Let  me  ask,  in  the  next  place,  your  conscience,  and  let 
your  conscience  answer,  what  do  you  think  of  the  great 
white  throne?  Would  you  feel  now  that  your  judge  is, 
and  was,  your  Saviour?  Would  you  recognize,  in  his 
accents,  those  of  Him  who  loved  you,  and  washed  you 
from  your  sins  in  his  own  blood  ?  Can  you  begin  the 
triumphant  p^ean  of  an  apostle,  and  say,  "All  things  are 
mine,  life,  death,  Paul,  Apollos,  Cephas,  things  present, 
things  past,  and  things  to  come  ;  all  are  mine,  for  I  am 
Christ's,  and  Christ  is  God's?"  Can  you  say,  in  the 
language  of  lofty,  but  magnificent  and  Christian  defiance, 
"  Neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
powers,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  height, 
nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord?"  Let  your  conscience  answer;  let  the  questions 
that  I  ask  find  an  answer,  not  an  echo  there. 

What  do  you  think,  I  ask,  of  God's  holy  word  ?  Is  it  to 
you  a  very  dull  book,  a  very  dry  book,  a  very  uninteresting 
book.  ?  or  is  it  the  book  of  your  study  ?  Do  you  feel  it  to 
be  full  of  seams  of  gold,  so  that  he  who  digs  deepest  gathers 
most  ?  Do  you  find  that  word  like  a  glorious  ocean,  whose 
floor  is  covered  with  precious  pearls,  so  that  he  who  dives 
oftenest  and  deepest,  brings  up  most  ?     Do  you  regard  it  as 


BAPTISM   DOTH   SAYE.  193 

the  light  to  yonr  path,  the  canon  of  your  faith,  by  which 
you  test  difficulties  ?  the  canon  of  your  life,  by  which  you 
try  all  its  features  ? 

What  does  your  conscience  answer  respecting  the  Lord's 
day  ?  Is  it  the  most  precious  of  all  ?  Is  it  the  sweetest, 
even,  as  it  has  been  called,  the  princess  of  the  week,  a 
transcript  in  spirit,  if  not  in  fact,  on  the  earth  that  now  is, 
from  the  joyous  heaven  that  will  be  ?  And  are  you  glad 
when  Saturday  comes  ?  and  are  you  sorry,  if  a  Christian, 
should  be  sorry,  when  Sabbath  closes  ?  Beautiful  idea, 
there  is  one  day  in  the  week  when  the  greatest  and  the 
poorest  in  the  land  can  meet  together,  and  say.  We  are 
peers,  and  God  is  the  Maker  of  us  all !  What  a  noble 
equality  is  this,  what  a  real  and  substantial  brotherhood! 
Do  not  wonder  that  ministers  of  the  gospel  seek  so  often  to 
get  the  Sabbath  vindicated  —  its  extinction  would  be  an 
irreparable  loss.  I  would  rather  see  all  our  cathedrals, 
beautiful  as  they  are,  swept  to  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  than 
that  day  profaned,  and  snatched  from  the  poor  man's  home, 
and  from  all  men's  sanctuary.  How  do  you  love  the  Lord's 
day  ?  I  do  not  mean  a  Jewish  Sabbath  ;  I  do  not  advocate 
the  very  peculiar  views  that  some  have  ;  it  is  a  joyous  and 
holy  day ;  God  blessed  it,  not  cursed  it  —  it  is  a  festival, 
not  a  fast ;  it  is  a  day  for  all  that  improves  our  hearts  and 
instructs  our  minds  —  for  expressing  our  wants  in  prayer 
and  our  thanks  in  praise.     If  we  be  Christ's  we  love  it. 

What  do  we  think  of  the  Lord's  table  ?  Do  we  regard 
it  as  a  resting-place,  the  recurrence  of  which,  time  after 
time,  we  rejoice  in  ?  Do  we  come  to  the  Lord's  table,  not 
as  to  an  awful  tragedy,  but  as  to  a  glad  and  beautiful  festi- 
val, a  eucharistic  or  thanksgiving  offering  ?  God  wishes  us 
only  good  ;  it  is  our  privilege  to  be  there ;  it  is  his  promise 
to  meet  us  there ;  it  is  an  occasion  on  which  there  should 
be  many  bounding  hearts,  and  few  if  any  heavy  ones.  It 
17 


194  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

is  a  day  on  which  we  meet  a  Father  at  a  Father's  hoard, 
and  tell  him  of  our  faiUngs,  our  falterings,  and  our  mercies, 
and  ask  of  him  that  blessing  especially  over  the  symbols  of 
his  love,  which  he  rejoices  to  bestow.  Can  we  say,  that 
with  all  our  falterings,  and  faiUngs,  and  short-comings,  and 
misgivings,  the  bent  and  strain  of  our  hearts  are  towards 
joy,  and  holiness,  and  heaven  ?  Can  we  say,  there  is  much 
in  me  to  deplore,  still  more  that  needs  to  be  forgiven ;  much 
that  will  break  out,  worse,  probably,  than  ever  broke  out 
before;  and  yet  can  each  say,  "For  my  rejoicing  is'the  tes- 
timony of  my  conscience,  that  in  simplicity  and  godly  sin- 
cerity, not  with  fleshly  wisdom,  but  by  the  grace  of  God,  I 
have  had  my  conversation  in  the  world." 

One  word  more,  and  I  have  done.  True  religion  is  not  a 
thing  political,  nor  a  thing  ecclesiastical,  nor  a  thing  corpo- 
rate, but  a  thing  personal,  —  it  is  the  answer  of  the  indi- 
vidual conscience.  You  cannot  be  saved  as  one  of  a  body, 
you  must  be  saved  individually.  Whatever  system  goes  to 
depreciate  personal  religion,  is  a  mischievous  one.  That 
system  that  would  shut  the  closet,  or  would  rather  cover  up 
the  text,  "When  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet,"  in 
order  to  exalt  the  temple,  only  goes  to  destroy  both ;  there 
must  first  be  individual  deahng  with  God,  before  there 
can  be  any  true  and  acceptable  public  worship  before  him. 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE    VICTORY    OF   FAITH. 

"  The  steps  of  fiiith 
Fall  on  the  seeming  void,  and  find 
The  rock  beneath." 

"And  Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  the  Lord  commanded  him."  — 
Gkn.  vii.  5. 

Believers  gained  victories  in  antediluvian  days.  We 
are  told  by  another  penman  that  Noah  built  the  ark  by 
faith  ;  that  by  faith  he  entered  into  it,  preached  a  righteous- 
ness that  was  the  only  title  to  salvation,  and  became  himself, 
by  faith,  the  heir  of  the  righteousness  which  is  by  faith. 
(Heb.  xi.)  We  are  told  in  the  one  page  of  Scripture,  that 
Noah  lived,  and  walked,  and  triumphed  by  faith ;  we  are 
told  in  another  passage  of  Scripture,  that  he  was  righteous 
—  alone  righteous  —  in  that  generation;  and  that  because 
he  believed,  and  was  thus  righteous,  doing  all  that  God 
commanded  him,  he  was  saved  in  the  judgment  that  over- 
took and  overwhelmed  the  world.  There  is  no  more  con- 
tradiction here  between  the  assertion  that  faith  was  all  by 
the  one  penman,  and  the  assertion  that  his  personal  right- 
eousness v/as  all  by  the  other  penman,  than  there  is  contra- 
diction between  Paul,  who  says  we  are  justified  by  faith,  and 
James,  who  says  we  are  justified  by  works.  The  faith  is 
the  root  and  spring  out  of  which  the  righteousness  which  is 
by  faith,  that  is,  sanctification  of  character,  must  continually 
proceed ;  and  it  was  just  because  Noah  lived  by  faith,  that 


196  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

Noali's  life  was  illustrated  by  righteousness.  In  other 
words,  the  faith  of  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  not  a  solitary 
ascetic,  that  builds  its  cell  and  lives  in  it  alone,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  the  prolific  parent  of  whatsoever  things  are  pure, 
and  just,  and  honest,  and  lovely,  and  of  good  report  —  to 
faith  is  added  virtue,  and  to  virtue  brotherly  kindness,  and 
to  brotherly  kindness  charity.  It  is  thus  that  faith  in  a 
Christian's  heart  is  the  source  of  all  the  good  works  that 
adorn  a  Christian's  life ;  and  it  is  to  illustrate  the  connection 
between  these  two  that  I  proceed  to  unfold  these  Words  — 
"Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  the  Lord  commanded 
him." 

Before  entering  on  this,  I  would  observe,  that  good  works 
are  not  stones  added  to  faith,  as  if  it  were  only  a  lower 
stone  in  the  superstructure,  disconnected  with  it,  yet  in- 
stantly following  it,  or  laid  upon  it ;  but  they  are  fruits,  and 
flowers  —  the  same  vitality  that  is  in  the  root  is  in  the  top- 
most bough ;  and  the  tree  bears  fruit,  because  it  has  life. 
Therefore  a  symbol  of  a  Christian  is  that  of  a  tree,  that  by 
faith  brings  forth  fruits  of  righteousness,  and  not  that  of  a 
building  —  one  stone  laid  upon  another,  and  others  super- 
added continuing  the  courses. 

To  show  the  faith  that  Noah  must  have  had,  and  how 
truly  it  was  by  faith  in  God's  word  that  he  surmounted  no 
ordinary  obstacles,  I  would  slate  some  of  those  difficulties 
which  must  have  presented  themselves  to  Noah's  mind.  He 
may  have  thought,  surely  God  will  not  be  so  severe.  I  have 
found  him  a  loving,  affectionate,  and  kind  Father ;  I  have 
found  him  bearing  and  forbearing.  And  he  might  have 
argued,  as  the  serpent  argued  with  Adam  and  Eve,  "  Ye 
shall  not  surely  die."  God  has  uttered  this  as  a  threat 
which  he  does  not  mean  to  execute ;  and  therefore  I  will 
not  be  at  the  trouble  of  making  such  vast  preparations  for 
•what,  in  all  probability,  will  not  occur  at  alh 


THE   VICTORY    OF   FAITH.  197 

Again,  the  reasoning  of  the  enemies  of  God  must  have 
appeared  to  Noah  very  startling,  though  not  strong  enough 
to  arrest  his  procedure.  Some  of  the  scientific  men  of  that 
day  said,  no  doubt,  Where  will  sufficient  water  be  found  ? 
How  shall  such  a  weight  of  water  be  lifted  from  the  depths 
of  the  sea,  and  made  to  overflow  the  highest  hills  ?  If  the 
worst  come  to  tlie  worst,  and  there  be  this  flood,  we  shall 
find  shelter  in  some  spots  that  it  will  not  reach,  or  we  shall 
be  able  to  set  afloat  some  vessels,  in  which  we  shall  be 
saved.  And  therefore  we  will  neither  enter  the  ark,  nor 
believe  your  prophecy,  nor  in  any  way  accept  your  pro- 
posals. Now  the  only  answer  that  Noah  could  give  to  all 
this  was,  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."  Probably  Noah  could 
not  answer  scientific  objections  by  scientific  solutions,  but  he 
could  say,  "  Thus  saith  the  Lord "  created  the  world,  and 
"  Thus  saith  the  Lord  "  maintains  it,  and  '"  Thus  saith  the 
Lord"  is  able  to  reduce  it  to  its  pristine  cliaos  —  as  it  is 
positively  predicted.  So  must  it  be.  We  must  not  look  at 
a  thing  that  could  have  been,  or  how  it  is  possible  it  may 
be,  but  simply  ascertain  from  that  Book,  which  speaks  with- 
out error,  what  God  has  said,  and  what  his  holy  mind  is. 

Noah,  too,  in  doing  all  that  God  commanded  him,  must 
himself  have  felt  that  he  had  great  difficulties  to  encounter. 
He  had  not  only  the  doubts  and  suspicions  of  his  own  heart 
to  overcome,  he  had  not  only  the  cavils  and  the  objections 
of  his  enemies  to  repel,  but  he  had  also  difficulties  in  his 
own  inward  feelings  and  personal  position,  that  must  have 
made  him  hesitate  not  a  little.  How  shall  I  build  a  vessel, 
he  may  have  thought,  seeing  I  have  never  lifted  an  axe 
before  ?  and  how  shall  I,  who  am  not  a  sailor,  navigate  it 
upon  unknown  tempestuous  seas  without  a  chart,  a  compass, 
or  any  acquaintance  with  the  management  of  the  helm  ? 
And  if  I  do  so,  how  shall  I  induce  all  the  beasts  of  the 
earth,  and  the  birds  of  the  air,  and  the  creeping  things,  pair 
17* 


198  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

by  pair,  to  enter  into  tliis  ark  ?  These  difficulties,  no  doubt, 
did  array  themselves  in  his  imagination,  and  made  him 
sometimes  hesitate.  But  faith  can  think  what  others  only 
dream  of,  and  it  can  do  wliat  others  think,  and  it  can  tri- 
umph where  others  only  attempt.  And  having,  therefore, 
God's  word,  "  This  shall  be,"  and  God's  command,  "  This  do 
you,"  Noah  by  faith  "  did  according  unto  all  that  the  Lord 
commanded  him."  Thus  it  was  by  faith  that  Noah  set  to 
work,  and  built  the  ark,  and  prepared  for  the  coming 
Flood  —  and  that  faith,  we  read,  was  crowned  with  trium- 
phant results ;  and  those  who  doubted  his  word,  and  disbe- 
lieved God's  being,  as  well  as  the  possibility  of  God's  judg- 
ments, soon  saw  that  the  old  fanatic  —  they  proclaimed  him 
to  be  so  a  hundred  years  before  —  was  the  true  and  faithful 
prophet.  When  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  and  the 
windows  of  heaven  began  to  break  open,  and  all  nature,  as 
if  rising  on  earth  against  humanity,  opened  its  terrible  artil- 
lery upon  the  world,  they  who  once  laughed  at  him  as  a 
fanatic,  accepted  him  as  a  prophet ;  they  who  expelled  him 
from  their  society  were  now  almost  ready  to  worship  him. 
The  greatest  sceptics  are  invariably,  in  the  hour  of  ap- 
proaching danger,  the  greatest  cowards,  and  the  rebound 
from  utter  derision  to  idolatry  is  a  very  easy  and  a  very  fre- 
quent one. 

Noah,  as  another  part  of  what  God  commanded  him, 
spoke  to  the  creatures  —  the  four-footed  beasts  of  the  earth, 
the  birds  of  the  air,  and  all  creeping  things,  and  summoned 
them  to  come  into  the  ark.  At  first  he  feared  this  was  an 
impossible  thing ;  but  no  sooner  did  he  open  his  lips  to  utter^ 
God's  command,  than  instantly  all  the  animated  things  heard 
and  obeyed  him.  Here  was  a  vestige  of  the  ancient  do- 
minion over  nature,  which  man  had  lost,  restored  to  Noah 
upon  this  occasion  —  teaching  us  that  still  the  way  to 
recover  man's   lost   dominion   over  nature,  is  for  him  to 


THE    VICTORY    OF    FAITH.  199 

recover  God's  i«iage  upon  his  own  soul.  Noah  obeyed  God, 
and  all  nature  obeyed  Noah.  The  highest  servant  of  God 
will  always  be  found  to  be  the  greatest  sovereign  of  nature 
around  him.  And  do  we  not  see  traces  of  this  in  the  fact, 
that  as  nations  grow  in  their  Christian  character,  in  the 
same  ratio  almost  do  they  grow  in  all  that  ennobles,  ele- 
vates, and  exalts  a  country  ?  Where  is  it  that  you  find  the 
highest  science,  the  purest  literature,  the  noblest  philoso- 
phy ?  Are  not  these  plants  that  grow  upon  the  soil  that 
has  been  watered  by  the  dew,  and  shone  upon  by  the  beams 
of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  ?  Where  is  it  that  you  see 
man  the  great  sea-lord  and  landlord  of  all  ?  It  is  where 
Christianity  has  its  deepest  hold,  and  where  its  transforming 
influence  has  been  most  thoroughly  felt.  Just  in  proportion 
as  a  nation  grows  in  its  moral  character,  does  it  recover  its 
mastery  over  the  animate  and  inanimate  creation  around 
it  —  a  foretoken,  a  pledge,  and  an  earnest  of  that  day  that 
will  surely  come,  when  man  shall  have  restamped  upon  him 
once  more  the  perfect  image  of  his  God,  and  nature  again 
shall  recognize  her  Sovereign  and  her  Lord  in  him.  The 
reins  were  dropped  when  Adam  fell ;  the  reins  will  be  re- 
placed in  man's  hand  when  the  second  Adam  comes.  He 
lost  his  sovereignty  by  sin,  he  will  regain  his  sovereignty  by 
righteousness ;  and  the  beasts  obeying  Noah,  and  the  mira- 
cles that  Jesus  did,  are  all  pledges  and  earnests  that  it  will 
ultimately  be  so. 

Another  part  of  what  Noah  did,  as  God  commanded  him, 
was  to  walk  with  God.  It  is  recorded  in  another  passage 
that  Noah  walked  with  God.  This  is  a  very  beautiful  and 
expressive  proof  of  Christian  character.  He  walked  safely, 
because  where  God  advanced,  he  moved ;  where  God  stood, 
he  stood  still;  and  thus  walking  with  God,  rough  places 
became  smooth,  difficulties  disappeared,  hills  were  levelled, 
valleys  were  filled  up,  and  all  things  became  plain  to  him 


200  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

who  felt  that  he  was  overshadowed  by  Jhe  power,  and 
inspired  by  the  directing  wisdom,  of  Almighty  God.  The 
course  that  we  are  to  pursue  still,  is  just  that  course  which 
was  trodden  by  the  footsteps  of  Noah  before  us  —  we  too 
are  to  walk  with  God,  doing  what  he  commands,  following 
the  example  that  he  sets,  listening  to  a  word  upon  the  right 
hand  and  upon  the  left,  saying  continually,  "  This  is  the 
way,  walk  ye  in  it;"  and  so  our  last  step  will  cross  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  and  our  footsteps  echo  on 
the  floor  of  that  everlasting  rest  that  remaineth  for  the 
people  of  God.  We  find  that  what  Noah  did  in  obedience 
to  the  word  of  God  was  a  victory ;  that  each  step  that  Noah 
took  in  the  course  prescribed  and  pointed  out  by  God,  W'as 
happiness  to  himself.  They  who  doubted  God's  word,  and 
preferred  the  conclusions  of  their  own  sceptic  wisdom, 
perished ;  he  who  believed,  in  the  face  of  difficulties,  in  the 
spite  of  plausible  objections,  the  simple  "Thus  saith  the 
Lord,"  proved  in  the  issue  the  grandest  philosopher,  by 
being  preserved  alone  —  a  monument  of  this  great  fact,  that 
one  word  of  God  is  stronger  than  the  pillars  that  sustain 
the  universe  itself. 

After  Noah  had  thus  acted,  and  entered  the  ark,  and  all 
things  had  happened  as  God  predicted,  though  better  than 
Noah  expected,  we  read,  in  beautiful  words,  in  the  16th 
verse,  that  "  God  shut  him  in."  What  an  exquisite  touch 
is  that  single  sentence  —  "  God  shut  him  in  ! "  What  a 
striking  illustration  that  he  who  begins  our  course  must  end 
it,  and  that  he  who  is  the  author  of  our  salvation  must  also 
be  its  finisher!  It  was  as  necessary  that  God's  hand 
should  shut  that  door,  as  it  was  that  God's  prescriptions 
should  open  it.  It  was  as  necessary  that  God  should  take 
care  of  Noah  while  he  was  in  the  ark,  as  that  God  should 
appoint  that  ark  as  the  retreat  of  safety  for  Noah  and  his 
family.     If  the  ark  be  in  any  sense  a  type  of  our  blessed 


THE    VICTORY    OF   FAITH.  201 

Lord,  it  is  as  necessary  that  God  should  keep  us  in  the 
Saviour,  as  it  is  that  he  should  place  us  in  the  Saviour. 
Our  salvation  is  not  complete  by  being  placed  in  Christ ;  it 
is  only  complete  by  being  kept  in  Christ.  We  are  told  by 
an  apostle,  that  "  we  are  kept  through  faith  unto  salvation, 
ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time."  And  we  are  told  by 
the  Saviour  himself,  "  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and 
none  shall  be  able  to  pluck  them  out  of  my  hand."  A 
Christian  is  not  one  who  believes  he  is  placed  in  Christ,  and 
therefore  ceases  to  hear,  to  pray,  to  look,  to  feel ;  but  one 
who  not  only  feels  that  he  must  be  placed  in  Christ  by  the 
hand  that  made  him  through  the  exercise  of  personal  faith 
on  his  part,  but  who  looks  and  leans  on,  and  derives 
momentum  and  direction  from,  the  same  arm  that  put  him 
there;  and  who  feels  at  every  step  of  his  beautiful  and 
happy  progression,  that  unless  the  God  keep  him  who  first 
justified  him,  he  can  never  see  happiness  and  heaven.  It 
is  thus  that  a  Christian  feels  the  necessity  of  a  ceaseless 
reliance  upon  God,  and  that  he  is  safer  not  from  the 
strength  of  his  faith,  but  from  the  pledges  and  the  promises 
of  Him  who  gave  it.  When  Noah  was  in  that  frail  ark,  he 
was  safer  than  those  who  were  in  the  strongest  ships  that 
floated  and  tried  to  find  safety  upon  that  tempestuous  and 
agitated  ocean.  Not  by  the  strength  of  his  vessel,  but  by 
the  protection  of  his  God,  was  Noah  safe.  We  too  in 
Christ  Jesus  are  safe,  not  because  our  faith  is  so  strong,  but 
because  his  hold  of  us  is  so  real.  I  have  no  doubt  that 
when  Noali  sat  in  the  ark,  and  heard  the  heavy  rains 
descend  upon  its  roof,  and  felt  the  agitated  and  convulsive 
shock  of  the  wave  that  sweot  by,  and  saw  the  peaks  of  the 
distant  hills  almost  covered,  lie  had  many  a  fear,  and  was 
agitated  by  many  a  conflicting  emotion,  and  that  he  often 
thought  that  he  should  still  be  ingulfed  amid  those  merciless 
and  deep  waters.     But  because  his  faith  trembled,  and  his 


202  THE   CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

fears  predominated,  his  safety  was  not  therefore  imperilled. 
His  safety  was  not  the  strength  of  his  faith,  but  the  pro- 
tection and  the  promises  of  his  God.  And  so  a  Christian 
now  may  in  Christ  Jesus,  his  better  ark,  have  many  a  fear, 
and  doubt,  and  sore  perplexity,  many  a  suspicion ;  but  yet  he 
is  safe.  The  weakness  of  our  faith  does  not  affect  the  strength 
of  our  Saviour ;  we  are  safe,  not  in  the  strength  of  our 
faith,  but  only  in  the  relationship  —  the  unchanged  and 
unchanging  relationship  —  of  Him  who  is  our  refuge  anji 
our  shelter,  and  our  salvation,  and  all  we  need  to  keep  us 
prosperous  and  progressive  upon  earth,  and  finally  to  waft 
us  across  time's  floods  and  tempests,  not  to  a  bleak  Ararat 
again,  to  go  down  upon  a  bleak  and  dismantled  earth,  but  to 
the  eternal  hills  of  the  heavenly  Jerusalem. 

Let  me,  having  touched  upon  these  points  in  Noah's 
obedience,  notice,  as  applicable  to  us,  that  faith  which  Noah 
had,  and  the  fruits  of  which  are  embodied  in  the  single  but 
expressive  text,  "  Noah  did  according  unto  all  that  the 
Lord  commanded  him."  The  secret  of  our  safety  from  the 
floods  of  a  coming  judgment  is  faith  in  Christ,  as  truly,  and 
as  really,  as  the  safety  of  Noah  and  his  family  from  that 
deluge  was  entering  into  the  ark.  I  do  not  institute  here  a 
parallel  between  Christ  and  the  ark.  I  dwell  upon  this  one 
point,  that  our  safety  from  the  coming  judgments  of  heaven 
is  just  the  same  with  reference  to  Christ,  that  Noah's  safety 
from  the  coming  deluge  was  with  reference  to  that  ark  into 
which  he  entered,  and  in  which  he  dwelt  for  a  season. 
What  is  this  faith  then  of  ours,  which  is  to  be  to  us  an 
element  of  such  confidence  ?  It  is  defined  by  an  apostle,  in 
language  on  which  I  have  commented  before,  as  "  the  sub- 
stance of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen." 
It  is  not  merely  a  subscription  to  a  creed,  however  ortho- 
dox; it  is  not  a  mere  enthusiastic  conviction,  "It  is  all 
right  with  me;"  it  is  not  a  blind  credulity  that  accepts 


THE    VICTORY    OF   FAITH.  203 

things  with  unreasoning  submission ;  it  is  the  inspiration 
of  God's  Spirit,  that  accepts  truths  that  are  avouched  to  be 
the  truths  of  God  by  the  signature  they  bear,  and  that 
gives  hospitality  in  its  bosom  to  many  bright  and  certain 
hopes,  that  are  sent  as  angel  visitants  from  Him  who  alone 
can  give  man  faith,  and  enrich  man's  heart  with  hope,  and 
joy^  and  peace  in  believing. 

This  faith  is  not  an  emotion  so  totally  different  from  the 
original  furniture  of  our  minds,  that  we  can  form  no  idea  of 
it  until  we  are  changed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  Faith 
is  found  in  every  man's  bosom  in  reference  to  some  things. 
For  instance,  the  confidence  of  a  battalion,  on  the  field  of 
battle,  in  a  great  and  experienced  commander;  the  confi- 
dence of  a  crew  in  the  captain  of  a  ship  in  a  heavy  gale 
and  in  a  tempestuous  sea ;  the  confidence  that  a  merchant 
has  in  his  far  distant  correspondent,  whom  he  never  saw  in 
the  flesh,  but  in  whom,  nevertheless,  he  has  perfect  and 
implicit  trust  —  all  these  are  faith  in  the  sphere  of  the 
human ;  and  the  faith  which  is  saving  is  the  transference  of 
the  same  emotion,  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  to  the 
sphere  of  the  Divine  and  the  eternal.  Thus  faith  in  Christ 
Jesus  is  not  an  inconceivable  thing.  We  all  have  some  idea 
of  it  as  that  by  which  society  hangs  together  and  coheres ; 
the  exhaustion  of  which  from  the  world  of  mankind  would 
be  the  exhaustion  of  its  only  cement,  and  its  precipitation 
into  disorganization  and  moral  chaos.  Now,  just  conceive 
the  transference  of  your  confidence  in  the  leader  of  the 
army,  in  the  captain  of  the  ship,  in  the  distant  merchant,  to 
Him  who  is  the  King  of  kings,  the  Captain  of  our  salvation^ 
in  whom  trust  may  be  placed  implicitly,  and  on  whose  word 
confidence  may  lean  its  weight,  and  not  fear  that  one  jot  or 
tittle  shall  pass  away  until  all  shall  be  fulfilled.  It  is  thus 
that  faith  in  Christ  Jesus  is  an  emotion  we  are  not  wholly 
strangers  to,  and  that,  inspired  by  his  Holy  Spirit,  grows  to 


204  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

be  a  saving  grace,  justified  by  which  we  have  peace  with 
God. 

"What  a  blessed  fact  is  it,  that  God  has  placed  our  salva- 
tion on  faith !  A  babe  can  trust  when  a  babe  cannot  reason. 
I  say,  a  child  can  trust  in  its  mother  for  its  nutriment,  its 
shelter,  and  its  safety,  though  it  cannot  reason ;  and  most 
men  can  trust  in  God's  word,  when  they  cannot  reason  out 
the  why  or  the  wherefore  of  it.  If  God,  for  instance,  had 
made  salvation  contingent  upon  laborious  study,  upon  elabo- 
rate induction,  upon  great  learning,  what  would  ha\'e  become 
of  the  young,  the  illiterate,  the  mass  of  mankind  ?  If  God 
had  said.  You  must  be  a  Butler,  or  you  must  be  a  Paley,  or 
some  other  great  scholar,  before  you  can  get  to  heaven, 
what  would  have  become  of  the  poor,  the  illiterate,  the 
laborious  ?  If  God  had  said.  You  can  get  to  heaven  as  a 
great  scientific  scholar,  there  would  have  been  in  that,  in 
some  degree,  the  product  of  man's  own  genius.  But  when 
He  says.  The  great  scholar  and  the  illiterate  man  are  both 
saved  simply  by  what  each  can  equally  reach,  their  believ- 
ing the  word  and  the  truth  of  God,  there  is  nothing  in  that 
in  which  a  man  can  glory.  It  is  no  merit  to  a  man  to 
believe  in  a  credible  witness  —  you  never  heard  a  man  say 
that  there  was  any  credit  in  believing  the  testimony  of  a 
credible  witness ;  and  so,  God  making  our  salvation  contin- 
gent upon  our  simply  believing  the  testimony  of  the  truth- 
telling  God,  takes  away  and  nips  in  the  very  bud  all  ideas 
or  possibility  of  self-glory,  or  self-righteousness,  or  merit  of 
any  kind.  And  thus,  we  are  saved  by  faith  in  God,  that 
no  flesh  may  glory;  saved  by  faith,  that  no  flesh  may 
despair ;  saved  by  faith,  that  the  scholar  may  not  say,  My 
learning  did  it,  and  I  may  glory  in  that;  saved  by  faith, 
that  the  poorest  and  the  most  illiterate  may  not  give  up,  as 
if  the  want  of  great  attainments  were  a  reason  why  they 
should  lose  the  privileges,  the  blessings,  and  the  hopes  of 


THE   VICTORY    OF   FAITH.  205 

the  gospel  of  Christ.  We  are  saved  in  such  a  way  that  the 
loftiest  and  the  poorest  upon  earth  must  believe  in  order  to 
be  saved ;  we  are  saved  in  such  a  way  that  the  worst  of 
mankind  may  believe  in  order  to  be  saved.  There  is  no 
immorality  too  deep  for  the  hand  of  Christ  not  to  descend 
and  pluck  the  victim  from  it;  and  there  is  no  purity  so 
lofty,  that  it  goes  beyond  the  range  of  the  requirement  of  a 
holy  law,  or  of  the  need  of  the  atoning  and  cleansing  blood 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Thus,  we  have  in  faith  that 
which  takes  away  all  possibility  of  merit,  which  makes  the 
gospel  scheme  so  simple  and  so  intelligible,  which  encour- 
ages all  men,  and  calls  upon  them  by  the  highest  prospects 
of  glory,  and  the  fear  of  the  greatest  perils  of  the  future, 
to  believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  believing  in  him,  to 
have  life  through  his  name. 

Yet,  this  scheme  of  mercy,  this  mode  of  saving  sinners, 
is  not  a  plan  that  encourages  in  the  least  degree  the  licen- 
tiousness of  the  human  heart.  It  is  not  true  that,  justified 
by  faith  alone,  we  are  thereby  absolved  from  all  the  obliga- 
tions of  God's  unchangeable  and  lasting  law.  The  best 
proof — that  the  greatest  believers  have  ever  been  the 
greatest  doers  —  has  just  been  the  record  of  the  past.  It 
was  by  faith  that  Noah  was  saved,  and  yet  the  character  of 
Noah  was  so  righteous,  so  spotless,  and  his  conduct  so  unim- 
peachable. It  was  by  faith  that  Enoch  was  translated  that 
he  should  not  see  death ;  and  yet  his  life  was  characterized 
by  a  ceaseless  walking  with  God.  Thus,  it  appears  from 
the  perusal  of  the  lives  of  sainted  men,  that  they  who  made 
faith  every  thing,  and  insisted  upon  it  as  the  most  vital  and 
essential  grace  in  the  Christian  character,  were  most  char- 
acterized by  all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  and  most  diligently 
added  to  their  faith  virtue,  and  to  virtue  godliness,  and  to 
godliness  brotherly  kindness,  and  to  brotherly  kindness 
charity.  Faith,  in  Noah,  was  the  source  of  Noah's  obe- 
18 


206  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

dience  to  God.  Faith,  in  Abraham,  was  the  secret  of  his 
going  forth,  he  knew  not  whither,  in  obedience  to  the  man- 
date of  God.  And  the  reason  why  faith  is  ever  so  holy  in 
its  fruits  is,  that  the  same  faith  that  believes  in  the  Saviour's 
atoning  blood,  believes  in  the  necessity  and  the  promise  and 
the  possession  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  sanctifying  virtue.  The 
same  heart  that  is  open  to  receive  Christ  as  an  atonement, 
is  in  that  opening  made  ready  to  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  as 
a  Sanctifier.  No  true  Christian  believes  that  Christ  came 
to  canonize  the  works  of  the  devil,  but  every  true  Christian 
believes  that  Christ  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil. 
The  highest  grace  saves  us,  not  in  our  sins,  but  from  our 
sins, —  their  curse,  their  condemnation,  and  their  power. 
Read  the  roll  call  of  the  illustrious  dead  in  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  every  one  of  whose 
names  is  like  a  trumpet  sound,  stirring  and  full  of  power, 
and  you  will  find  that  it  was  those  who  were  signalized  by 
the  most  childlike  faith  who  were  also  characterized  by  the 
most  beautiful  and  ennobling  traits  of  the  Christian  charac- 
ter, as  that- character  is  portrayed  in  the  word  of  God. 
Thus  we  see  how  consistent  it  is,  that  one  who  by  faith 
believed  God's  testimony,  did,  through  the  inspiration  of 
that  faith,  all  that  God  had  commanded  him. 

There  is  another  reason,  I  may  state,  why  faith  is  so  very 
precious.  It  is  that  grace  which  turns  constantly  to  God, 
leans  on  him,  watches  for  the  expression  of  his  will,  sits  at 
his  feet,  and  is  ever  ready  to  go  forth  and  do  what  he  bids. 
This  faith  is  the  leaning  of  weakness  upon  Omnipotence,  of 
the  finite  upon  the  infinite,  of  ignorance  upon  wisdom,  and 
of  sin  upon  the  rich  mercy  that  is  pledged  and  promised  to 
wash  it  all  away.  Faith  is  to  the  Christian  the  attraction 
that  draws  him  constantly  to  God,  the  vital  chord  along 
which  God's  love  comes  down  to  us,  and  in  the  enjoyment 
of  which,  therefore,  we  are  replaced  and  reinstated  in  that 


THE   VICTORY   OF  FAITH.  207 

union  and  communion  with  God  which  was  lost  by  sin  and 
is  restored  only  in  the  gospel. 

It  is  a  very  beautiful  arrangement  and  very  delightful  to 
us,  that  this  faith  is  the  creature's  resting  not  upon  any  thing 
beneath  it.  If  our  faith  be  in  a  man,  in  a  king,  in  a  priest, 
in  a  saint,  it  is  in  something  not  higher  than  ourselves ;  but 
the  grand  provision  of  the  gospel  is,  that  our  trust  shall  be 
exercised  in  One  who  is  higher,  holier,  better,  infinitely  than 
we ;  that  we  shall  approximate  to  One  who  is  infinitely  dis- 
tant, but  infinitely  grand ;  that  we  ihall  lean  upon  One  who 
is  greater  than  all,  and  leaning  upon  whom  we  are  increas- 
ingly ennobled,  dignified,  strengthened.  Were  the  tree  of  a 
hundred  years,  or  two  or  three  hundred  years,  to  lean  upon 
a  plant  of  two  or  three  years,  it  would  be  absurd.  It  is 
the  weak  plant  that  leans  upon  the  stronger  of  many  centu- 
ries. A  Christian  is  the  parasite  of  the  Tree  of  Life  —  he 
leans  upon  it,  derives  his  nutriment  from  it,  and  is  strong, 
not  in  his  own  strength,  but  in  its  strength ;  and  is  sheltered, 
not  by  his  own  leaves,  but  by  its  branches :  so  that  in  his 
safety,  in  his  nutriment,  in  his  leaning,  in  his  direction, 
Christ  —  the  Tree  of  Life  —  is  all  and  in  all.  Wherever 
there  is  simple  faith,  there  there  is  the  most  active  obedience, 
the  greatest  dignity,  direction,  progress,  and  happiness. 

We  read  next,  that  on  account  of  Noah's  faith  all  his 
family  were  blessed.  What  an  interesting  and  instructive 
lesson  is  in  this  simple  fact,  that  our  families  are  blessed  in 
the  ratio  in  which  the  heads  of  them  lean  on  and  take  direc- 
tion from  God !  It  is  a  law  impressed  upon  the  history  of 
the  world,  that  when  the  heads  of  nations  do  what  is  lawful 
and  right,  the  meanest  subjects  of  those  nations  share  in  the 
Divine  benedictions.  It  is  the  law  of  the  domestic  circle, 
that  the  parent  living  unto  God,  and  receiving  direction 
from  him,  like  a  divine  conductor,  brings  down  blessings 
from  the  skies  upon  all  that  are  around  and  beneath  him. 


208  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

"  Come  thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark;  for  thee"  — 
not  thee  and  all  thy  house  have  I  seen,  but  "  thee  have  I 
seen  righteous  before  me  in  this  generation."  What  an 
inducement,  then,  is  this  to  all  who  are  in  authority,  to  all 
who  have  great  power,  to  seek  to  be,  and  to  be  sure  that 
they  are,  inspired  and  directed  by  Almighty  grace  !  Whether 
we  approve  of  it  or  not,  it  is  the  law  of  nations,  it  is  the 
testimony  of  God,  that  peoples  and  families  are  blessed  when 
their  heads  and  governors  live  in  the  fear  of  Him  by  whom 
kings  reign  and  princes  decree  justice. 

Coming  years  may  be  to  us,  writer  and  reader,  like  the 
waters  of  the  Flood  to  the  antediluvian  race,  a  new  and 
awful  baptism.  Not  a  year  that  comes  can  be  a  pledge  that 
the  next  will  be  one  of  national,  or  universal,  or  European 
prosperity,  progress,  happiness,  and  peace.  Review  the 
last  six,  or  seven,  or  ten  years :  every  year  in  succession 
has  been  an  epoch  —  some  striking  phenomenon  has  charac- 
terized it ;  and  what  these  have  been,  the  coming  years  will 
be  still ;  for  as  the  time  gets  shorter  events  will  be  crowded 
into  them  the  more ;  and  those  events  will  strike  and  tell 
with  more  startling  momentum  upon  the  nations  and  the  his- 
tory of  mankind.  Perhaps  in  another  year  or  two  the 
wdiole  fountains  of  our  social  system  may  be  broken  up ; 
the  great  deeps  of  society,  stirred  by  all  strange  elements ; 
and  the  highest  pinnacles  and  mountain  crags  of  human 
grandeur  and  human  greatness,  may  be  overflowed  by  a 
more  terrific  flood  than  has  ever  swept  the  earth.  1853 
will  only  be  another  stage  in  that  progression  in  which  we 
are  now  rushing.  Are  we,  in  the  prospect  of  these  things, 
in  the  true  Ark  ?  Have  we  entered  by  faith  into  the  Son 
of  God?  It  is  not  calculating  what  may  be,  or  guessing 
what  may  be,  or  even  acquaintance  with  unfulfilled  proph- 
ecy, however  valuable,  that  will  shield  and  save  us.  Our 
safety  is  in  the  Ark,  our  shelter  is  in  the  Son  of  God.    And 


THE   VICTORY   OF   FAITH.  209 

if  we,  by  living,  personal,  individual  trust,  are  ».liis  day 
looking  to  his  precious  blood  as  the  only  absolution  from 
our  sins,  and  to  his  Holy  Spirit  as  the  only  Sanctilier  and 
Comforter,  then  come  flood,  come  fire,  come  the  breaking 
up  of  all  ancient  settlements,  come  the  crashing  and  over- 
turning of  all  great  dynasties,  let  the  windows  of  heaven 
pour  down  judgments,  and  the  responsive  deeps  of  society 
break  up  and  pour  forth  their  contents,  yet  we  have  "a 
river,  the  streams  whereof  make  glad  the  city  of  our  God. 
God  is  our  refuge  and  our  strength."  We  hear  now  what 
we  shall  try  to  realize  then,  "  Come,  my  people,  in  the  pros- 
pect of  1853,  1854,  and  their  dire  or  welcome  phenom- 
ena —  come,  my  people,  enter  thou  into  thy  chambers,  shut 
thy  doors;  wait  a  little  moment  until  the  indignation  be 
overpast."  Is  this  your  shelter?  Is  this  your  refuge? 
Let  every  man  examine  himself;  let  us  try  ourselves,  let 
us  ascertain  where  our  trust  is,  what  is  our  dependence  at 
this  moment,  and,  in  the  prospect  of  the  future,  where  we 
stand  now  in  the  present.  Noah  preached  to  thousands  who 
would  not  hear  him ;  let  not  the  ministers  of  the  gospel 
preach  to  you,  and  find  you  also  equally  sceptical.  They 
preached  temporally;  we  perish,  by  neglecting  the  great 
salvation,  eternally.  Christ  himself  preaches  to  us,  "  Come 
unto  me,  all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will 
give  you  rest."  And  if  we  are  in  that  Ark,  however  poor, 
however  minute,  however  insignificant  in  the  social  scale, 
God  can  no  more  forget  us  than  he  can  forget  himself. 
What  a  blessed  thought  is  it,  that  he  who  remembered  Noah 
in  the  ark,  watched  every  wave,  meted  out  every  wind, 
shaped  its  course,  and  landed  it  on  Ararat,  is  as.  truly  taking 
care  of  the  poorest  Christian  orphan  or  widow,  as  if  that 
orphan  or  widow  were  the  only  being  in  the  whole  uni^ 
verse !  A  mother  may  forget  her  son,  that  she  should  not 
have  compassion  on  the  child  of  her  womb ;  yet  will  God 
18* 


210  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

not  forget  thee.  He  lias  graven  thee  upon  the  palms  of  his 
hands,  he  holds  thee  in  everlasting  remembrance.  "  For 
this  is  as  the  waters  of  Noah  unto  me :  for  as  I  have  sworn 
that  the  waters  of  Noah  should  no  more  go  over  the  earth ; 
so  have  I  sworn  that  I  would  not  be  wroth  with  thee,  nor 
rebuke  thee.  For  the  mountains  shall  depart,  and  the  hills 
be  removed ;  but  my  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee, 
neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be  removed,  saith 
the  Lord,  that  hath  mercy  on  thee.  O  thou  afflicted,  tossed 
with  tempest,  and  not  comforted,  behold,  I  will  lay  thy 
stones  with  fair  colors,  and  lay  thy  foundations  with  sap- 
phires." Again,  reader,  let  me  ask,  are  you  in  Christ,  the 
true  Ark?  Do  you  trust  in  him  for  eternal  things,  for 
spiritual  things,  as  much  as  the  soldier  trusts  in  his  colonel, 
as  the  merchant  trusts  in  his  correspondent,  as  the  sailor 
trusts  in  the  captain  of  the  vessel?  Do  you  trust  truly, 
really,  enthusiastically,  in  reference  to  the  soul's  safety  and 
happiness,  in  Christ  Jesus,  the  only  one  who  can  save, 
sanctify,  and  preserve  it  ?  It  is  a  simple  question ;  it  is  a 
vital  one;  and  we  beseech  you,  in  Christ's  stead,  be  ye 
reconciled  to  God ;  for  he  hath  made  him  who  knew  no  sin 
to  be  sin  for  us,  that  we  might  be  made  the  righteousness  of 
God  by  him. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

HIGH    CHUROHMANSHIP. 
/ 

"  Mothers  can  tell  how  oft 
In  the  heart's  eloquence  the  prayer  goes  up 
From  a  sealed  lip ;  and  tenderly  hath  blent 
With  the  warm  teaching  of  the  sacred  tale, 
A  voiceless  wish,  that  when  that  timid  soul, 
Now  in  the  rosy  mesh  of  infancy 
Fast  bound,  shall  dare  the  billows  of  the  world, 
Like  that  exploring  dove,  and  find  no  rest, 
A  pierced,  a  pitying,  a  redeeming  hand 
May  gently  guide  it  to  the  ark  of  peace." 

"  Come  thou  and  all  thy  house  into  the  ark."  —  Gen.  vii.  1. 

We  are  told,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  it  was 
"  by  faith  "  that  "  Noah  prepared  the  ark,  to  the  saving  of 
himself  and  household ; "  and  we  are  told,  by  the  Apostle 
Peter,  that  spiritual  "  baptism,"  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  is  connected  in  the  way  we  have  seen  with  the  sym- 
bol that  is  here  employed  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 

"Noah"  means  "rest,"  or  "repose;"  and  as  such,  we 
believe  that  Noah  is  an  expressive  symbol,  or  at  least  illus- 
trative to  his  extent,  of  Him  who  is  the  only  rest  of  his 
believing  people.  Our  Lord  himself  says,  "  Come  unto-  me, 
all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest ; "  and  he  is  frequently  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  the 
"-M?aA"  of  his  people  —  that  is,  the  rest  of  his  people. 
Now  whether  the  one  was  designed  to  be  a  type  of  the 
other,  I  cannot  say ;  but,  certainly,  the  meaning  of  the  one 


212  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

is  only  an  adequate  expression  for  the  excellence,  per- 
fection, and 'glory  of  the  other.  There  is  but  one  Noah  in 
the  whole  universe  of  God  —  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  there 
is  but  one  spot,  from  the  nadir  up  to  the  very  zenith,  which 
can  be  the  rest  of  an  immortal  soul,  or  a  foundation  for  the 
superstructure  of  our  hopes  and  prospects  for  eternity.  All 
things  change  but  Christ.  Opinions,  politics,  parties,  prefer- 
ences, prejudices  —  all  are  undergoing  a  perpetual  change; 
and  in  the  present  day  there  seems  to  be  that  social  ferment 
which  precedes  new  combinations  —  that  disintegration  of 
the  atoms  that  constitute  society  which  always  takes  place 
prior  to  new  crystallization.  But  amidst  the  changes  of 
empires,  the  fall  of  dynasties,  the  war  of  parties,  the  col- 
lision of  sentiments.  One  remains — the  great  central  column 
of  the  universe,  against  which  we  may  lean  and  feel  at 
ease  —  our  Noah,  our  rest,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

Noah  was  not  only  a  "rest,"  as  his  name  denotes,  but 
"  a  preacher  of  righteousness."  Noah  preached  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  —  Christ  preaches  his  own ;  Noah's 
language  was,  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God "  —  Christ's 
language  is,  "I  that  speak  unto  thee  am  he."  Noah 
preached  that  only  righteousness  which  has  been,  and  ever 
will  be,  the  only  mode  of  a  sinner's  acceptance  before  God ; 
and  hence  the  righteousness  which  Noah  preached,  and 
which  Christ  performed,  is  the  righteousness  in  which  the 
antediluvians  trusted,  in  which  Abraham  and  the  patriarchs 
gloried,  which  the  Levitical  shadows  and  sacrifices  typified, 
which  prophets  foretold,  which  Christ  completed,  which 
evangelists  recorded,  which  apostles  proclaimed,  and  mar- 
tyrs sealed  with  their  blood  at  the  stake.  There  have 
never  been  two  ways  of  acceptance  before  God,  or  two 
religions.  There  is  and  has  been  but  one.  It  was  devel- 
oped from  Paradise  to  Calvary,  but  still  the  same.  The 
antediluvian  was  the  seed,  the  patriarchal  was  the  stem,  the 


HIGH   CHURCHMANSHIP.  213 

Levitical  was  the  bud  —  the  Christian  is  the  full-grown  and 
fragrant  and  beauteous  blossom.  It  is  the  perfection  only, 
not  the  opposite,  of  all  the  preceding ;  hence  Christianity  is 
not  a  new  religion,  but  the  old  religion ;  and  Protestantism, 
its  last  type,  is  only  Christianity  in  conflict  with  the  errors 
that  have'  overlaid  it,  and  the  superstitions  that  have  been 
incrusted  upon  it. 

Though  Noah  was  "  a  preacher  of  righteousness,"  all  his 
warnings  were  despised  by  the  generation  to  whom  he 
addressed  them.  What  does  this  teach  us?  That  truth 
never  has  been  popular  in  the  world.  It  is  not  only  a 
world  of  sin,  but  a  world  of  lies ;  and  man  has  ever  loved 
the  lie,  which  speaks  to  him  peace ;  and  he  has  ever  hated 
the  truth,  that  rebukes  his  sins  and  proclaims  the  reality 
of  his  condition.  Never  was  truth  preached  in  the  world 
more  faithfully  or  more  affectionately  than  Jesus  preached 
it ;  and  never  did  truth  meet  with  a  more  stern  or  terrible 
rejection.  The  fact  is,  that  man,  till  he  is  taught  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  cannot  stand  the  truth  about  himself ;  for  to 
hear  the  whole  truth,  and  feel  it,  about  Ins  state  by  sin, 
would  make  him  —  must  make  him  —  either  commit  sui- 
cide, or  believe  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  whole  truth  about  his 
state,  must  either  drive  a  man  to  the  very  brink  of  despair, 
or  it  must  draw  him  unto  'Him  who  puts  an  end  to  all 
despair,  by  forgiving  all  sin.  When  Noah  preached  to  the 
world  the  judgments  that  were  ready  to  overwhelm  it,  I 
have  already  said  that  it  was  likely  demonstrated  to-  the 
entire  satisfaction  of  all  the  scientific  institutes  of  the  ante- 
diluvian world,  that  the  flood  was  an  impossibility  and "  an 
absurdity ;  when  Noah  predicted  its  advent,  the  astronomers 
of  that  day  proved  to  absolute  demonstration,  that  no  plan- 
etary force  could  be  exerted  adequate  to  move  the  ocean 
from  its  oozy  bed,  and  to  mal^e  it  overflow  the  highest 
mountains  of  the  earth;   and  the   geologists   of  that  day 


214  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

argued,  tliat  the  lower  strata  of  the  earth  consisted  of  fire, 
rather  than  of  water ;  and  I  have  as  little  dpubt  that  the 
Charivari  and  newspaper  caricaturists  of  the  time  mocked 
the  fanatic  old  man,  for  telling  them  that  the  Flood  was 
about  to  overflow  the  world,  and  sweep  them  from  the  face 
of  the  earth.  But  the  great  fact  which  upset  all  theories 
came  in  the  bursting  earth,  and  the  opening  firmament  of 
heaven,  and  the  Flood,  that  swept  away  the  demonstrations 
and  the  demonstrators  with  them.  So  will  it  be  again. 
We  are  told  that  in  the  last  days  "  there  shall  be  STJofFers, 
walking  after  their  own  lusts ; "  and  they  shall  say, 
"Where  is  the  promise  of  His  coming?  for  since  the 
fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from 
the  creation  of  the  world  ; "  not  knowing  that  "  one  day  is 
with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years  as 
one  day."  And  "  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Noah,  so  shall  it 
be  when  the  Son  of  Man  cometh ;  men  shall  be  eating,  and 
drinking,  and  marrying,  and  giving  in  marriage,"  even  as 
they  were  when  the  Flood  came. 

So  much  for  the  person  here  spoken  of. 

Let  me  now  notice,  in  the  second  place,  the  object  —  the 
ark.  There  are  two  things  which  bear  the  same  name  — 
the  ark  in  which  Noah  and  his  family  floated  to  Ararat, 
and  the  ark  of  the  testimony,  which  was  kept  in  the  holy 
place,  and  covered  with  the  mercy-seat.  These  are  two 
very  different  things.  The  ark  here  is  the  wooden  vessel, 
constructed  after  the  prescription  of  God,  which  carried 
Noah  and  his  family  across  the  waters,  and  landed  them 
on  Ai'arat.  I  look  upon  the  ark  here,  not  as  has  been 
done,  as  the  type  and  the  symbol  of  the  Saviour.  I  prefer 
here  to  regard  it  as  the  type  and  symbol  of  the  outward 
church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  mean  hj  that  church, 
not  any  visible  communion  upon  earth,  but  the  company  of 
all  redeemed  and  time  believers.    In  other  words,  I  look 


HIGH    CHURCHMANSHIP.  215 

apon  it  as  the  symbol  of  the  true  church,  which  we  estimate 
not  by  the  size  of  its  cathedrals,  or  the  height  of  its  spires, 
or  the  number  of  its  baptisms ;  but  by  its  likeness  to  God, 
and  conformity  to  the  image  of  Jesus.  Hence  I  have 
always  felt  it  an  insuperable  objection  to  the  Tractarian 
divines,  that  they  are  so  very  low  churchmen;  we  are 
rightly  and  properly  the  true  high  churchmen.  Dr.  Watts 
shows,  in  many  of  his  hymns,  that  he  was  a  far  higher 
churchman  than  Mr.  Keble  or  Mr.  Williams,  who  sing  the 
glories  and  the  excellences  of  what  they  call  the  church. 
The  church  of  the  Tractarian  is  a  church  limited  by  the 
height  of  the  spire  of  the  cathedral ;  the  church  of  the 
Christian  is  a  church  which  stretches  beyond  the  stars. 
Their  church  is  one  which  includes  Italy  and  Austria,  and 
excludes  Scotland  and  Holland,  and  a  large  portion  of 
America ;  our  church  is  one  which  includes  people  of  every 
kindred  and  tongue  and  people  and  nation,  whose  towers 
stretch  beyond  the  firmament,  and  repose  amid  the  efful- 
gence of  the  throne  of  God.  Dr.  Watts  shows  himself, 
Congregationalist  as  he  was,  to  have  been  a  true  church- 
man, when  he  sings  :  — 


"  I  love  thy  kingdom,  Lord, 

The  house  of  thine  abode, 
The  church  our  bless' d  Redeemer  bought 

With  his  own  precious  blood. 

"  I  love  thy  church,  0  God; 

Her  v/alls  before  thee  stand, 
Dear  as  the  apple  of  thine  eye, 

And  graven  on  thy  hand. 

"  Beyond  my  highest  joys 

I  prize  her  heavenly  ways  — 
Her  sweet  communion,  solemn  vows, 

Her  hymns  of  love  and  praise." 


216  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

"We  cannot  find  our  idea  of  the  churcli  satisfied  with  any  vis- 
ible Christian  institution  upon  earth.  All  visible  churches 
are  provisional,  not  perfect.  Our  churchmanship  rises  far 
above  popes,  and  prelates,  and  presbyters,  —  we  can  find 
the  great  idea  defined  only  in  the  word  of  God,  and  the 
lofty  and  glorious  reality  embodied  in  the  presence  of  the 
throne  of  God  himself.  Hence  I  have  thought,"  that  even 
one  single  sound  from  David's  lyre,  although  that  sound 
comes  through  the  rugged  Scottish  version  — 

"  Upon  the  hills  of  holiness 
God  his  foundation  sets ; 
God  more  than  Jacob's  dwellings  all 
Delights  in  Zion's  gates: "  — 

has  more  true  churchmanship  than  all  Mr.  Keble's  drivel- 
ling poetry  about  "  holy  mother."  We  are  churchmen  — 
high  churchmen  ;  the  Tractarians  are  mere  schismatics  and 
dissenters,  setting  up  a  human  altar  against  the  Divine 
one. 

Into  this  ark  we  invite  all,  as  Noah  invited  the  antedilu- 
vians into  his.  To  come  by  baptism  into  the  visible  church 
is  unquestionably  a  duty ;  but  to  invite  you  to  come  into 
this  national  or  that  national,  or  this  Congregational  or  that 
Wesleyan,  communion,  is  not  necessarily  to  invite  you  into 
this  ark.  Our  invitation  is  to  come  into  that  true  church, 
members  of  which  are  in  every  communion  upon  earth ; 
the  head  of  which  is  Christ ;  the  bonds,  the  ties,  the  links 
of  which  are  ties  of  living  and  imperishable  love;  the 
safety  of  which  is  guaranteed  by  the  oath  and  made  real 
by  the  overshadowing  attributes  of  Deity ;  and  the  end  and 
the  destiny  of  which  is  so  sure  that  no  convulsion  can  arrest 
it,  no  change  retard  it.  This  church  must  last  and  live, 
whilst  there  is  a  God  to  be  worshipped,  throughout  the  ages 
of  eternity. 


HIGH   CHURCffeMANSHIP.  ■     217 

The  ark  which  Noah  built  after  the  prescription  of  God, 
had  but  one  door  in  it ;  and  Noah  stood  at  that  door,  and 
invited  all  that  would  to  come  in.  What  is  that  door  ?  It 
is  not  baptism ;  that  cannot  be  proved.  It  is  not  any  right 
prescription  or  position  in  this  world ;  that  cannot  be  proved. 
But  we  have  One  proclaiming  himself  to  be  the  only  door 
to  the  sheepfold  —  the  only  avenue  of  access  to  the  number 
of  the  saved :  "  I  am  the  door ;  whoso  entereth  by  me  shall 
find  pasture."  Hence  the  title  of  admission  into  this  true 
church  of  the  redeemed  is  not  any  visible  ceremony ;  nor  is 
it  any  earthly  name,  however  valued,  esteemed,  and  cher- 
ished it  may  be  ;  nor  is  it  in  the  power  of  any  priest,  nor  is  it 
in  virtue  of  any  rite  ;  it  is  simply  the  reception  of,  or  belief 
in,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  as  God's  way  to  us,  and  our  way 
exclusively  to  him;  —  and  that  minister  of  the  gospel  who 
cannot  point  out  this  door  without  obstructing  and  narrow- 
ing it,  or  who  cannot  stand  before  it  and  invite  the  people 
in  without  casting  his  own  shadow  on  it,  is  not  true  to  all 
the  requirements  and  responsibilities  of  his  office ;  and  that 
sermon,  therefore,  seems  to  me  the  most  useful,  not  which 
pleases  the  ear  with  its  music,  but  which  casts  the  greatest 
light  and  the  least  shadow  upon  Christ,  the  only  door  of 
access  to  the  company  of  the  saved. 

This  ark,  constructed  after  the  prescription  of  God,  had 
not  only  a  door,  but  also  a  "  window ; "  and  it  is  remarkable 
that  it  had  but  one  window  —  for  God  himself  said,  "A 
window  shalt  thou  make  in  it ; "  and  the  height  and  breadth 
of  that  window  God  himself  laid  down.  Now  what  a 
window  is  to  that  ark,  it  is  not  surely  straining  our  inter- 
pretation if  I  presume,  the  ministry  and  sacraments  and 
ordinances  of  the  church  are  to  the  church.  What  was  the 
best  window  that  Noah  could  have  had  in  the  ark?  Surely 
not  the  most  beautiful  one  —  not  the  one  that  was  most 
richly  and  most  exquisitely  stained;  but  the  window  that 
19 


218  THE    CHURCH   ^FORE    THE   FLOOD. 

would  subserve  the  great  purposes  which  he  had  in  view, 
that  which  admitted  with  the  least  obstruction  the  light  of 
heaven  to  the  inmates.  It  is  so  with  the  ministry  and  the 
ordinances  of  the  church  of  Christ.  That  is  the  best  min- 
istry which  is  the  purest  medium  of  light ;  the  best  light  is 
not  the  "  dim  religious,"  but  the  bright  religious  light ;  and 
those  sacraments  seem  to  me  the  most  scriptural  and  the 
most  apostolical,  which  are  administered,  so  as  not  to  take 
the  place  of  Christ,  and  dislodge  him,  but  to  be  the  trans- 
parent and  lucid  media  through  which  the  beams  of  heaven 
dawn  upon  the  earth,  and  the  light  of  God's  truth  finds  the 
most  ready  access  into  the  depths  of  man's  heart. 

While  the  ark  had  its  door  and  its  window,  it  had  in  it  also 
several  compartments ;  these  compartments  were  divided  by 
partitions.  Is  there  not  in  this  something  like  a  symbol  — 
if  not  a  description  —  of  the  state  of  Christ's  church? 
Those  true  believers  who  compose  it  may  be  found  in  every 
communion ;  and  each  has  a  preference,  it  may  be,  distinct 
from  his  brother's.  These  distinctions  may  be  sinful  —  but 
they  are  facts ;  these  differences  may  be  expedient,  or  they 
may  not ;  they  may  be  necessary  and  unavoidable,  or  they 
may  be  criminal ;  but  here  they  are.  Men  do  not  yet  see 
eye  to  eye ;  whether  they  shall  ever  see  all  things  exactly 
the  same,  is  a  question  I  cannot  answer ;  but  here  there  is 
a  palpable  fact,  that  if  there  were  different  chambers  in  the 
ark,  there  was  but  one  door  of  access  to  all,  and  one  window 
to  give  light  to  them  all.  May  it  not  be  so  in  Christ's 
church  ?  —  nay,  it  is  so,  —  whatever  be  the  Christian  party, 
or  denomination  (and  one  compartment  may  be  ampler  and 
brighter  than  another)  to  which  you  belong,  there  is  but  one 
door  of  admission  to  the  true  church;  there  is  but  one 
window  to  let  light  into  it ;  and  that  sect  seems  to  me  to 
depart  furthest  from  the  gospel,  that  says,  "  You  shall  not 
belong  to  us,  unless  you  first  enter  through  Cranmer,  or 


HIGH    CHURCHMANSHIP.  219 

Wesley,  or  Knox,  and  then  througli  Christ;"  but  that 
church  seems  to  me  to  approach  nearest  to  the  apostolic 
model,  that  proclaims  and  writes,  as  it  were,  on  its  very- 
threshold —  "There  is  nothing  requisite  for  your  admission, 
but  your  sense  of  your  peril  without,  and  your  desire  to  be 
saved  solely  tlirough  His  precious  blood." 

In  this  ark  the  three  great  fathers  of  the  human  family 
met  together :  Shem,  the  great  father  of  Asia,  Japhet  of 
Europe,  and  H^n  of  Africa,  —  America  being  made  up  of 
sections  taken  from  each.  How  delightful  the  anticipation, 
that  their  children  shall  meet  again  in  Christ,  their  common 
Saviour,  and  in  the  true  ark,  their  common  church !  and 
how  earnestly  should  we  endeavor  to  approximate  to  this 
predestined  state  in  all  our  arrangements  upon  earth !  How 
very  unlike  this  is  a  portion  of  the  church  in  the  Southern 
States  of  America,  where  the  black  man,  because  he  has 
got  a  darker  shade  upon  his  face,  is  not  allowed  to  approach 
the  same  table  or  sit  in  the  same  pew  with  the  white  man  ! 

All  within  the  ark,  and  they  alone,  were  saved.  No 
doubt  there  were  stronger  ships  built  than  the  ark,  and  yet 
they  all  perished.  Tested  by  strict  mathematical,  or  hydro- 
static, or  hydraulic  principles,  the  ark  was  a  very  defective 
vessel;  I  have  no  doubt  scientific  men  prophesied  that  it 
would  founder  in  the  first  wave  that  rolled ;  and  I  dare  say 
that  when  Noah  entered  the  ark,  without  any  knowledge  of 
the  stars,  and  without  any  chart  or  compass,  or  means  of 
navigating  it,  they  predicted  that  if  his  prophecy  became 
true,  and  the  Flood  came,  those  magnificent  war  vessels 
would  float  unscathed  to  the  remotest  shores,  and  that  the 
miserable  shell  which  Noah  called  the  ark  would  perish  in 
the  first  gale.  But  the  mightiest  navies  foundered  before 
the  overwhelming  Flood ;  and  the  very  shell  constructed  by 
Noah,  who  was  neither  shipwright  nor  carpenter,  survived ; 
teaching  us  the  lesson,  that  the  element  of  safety  is  not  the 


220  THEJ    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Strength  of  human  institutions,  but  the  presence  and  blessing 
of  God  uj)on  the  weakest. 

Kings  and  nobles,  the  highest,  the  noblest,  the  richest, 
and  the  greatest,  outside  the  ark  perished !  they  only  inside 
were  safe.  And  so  it  must  be  still.  The  church  that  is  to 
last  for  ever  is  not  the  most  gorgeous  in  its  forms,  or  the 
richest  in  its  possessions ;  and  they  that  trust  to  the  antiquity, 
or  the  greatness,  or  the  learning,  or  the  resources  of  the 
church,  as  the  great  means  of  their  safety  in  the  approach- 
ing storms,  imitate  the  conduct  of  those  who  trusted 'to  their 
w^ar  ships,  and  rejected  the  safety  provided  in  the  ark  of 
JSToah.  Our  safety  is  not  in  our  belonging  to  a  church  the 
most  apostolic,  nor  is  it  in  our  being  baptized  after  2i  formula 
the  most  scriptural ;  the  only  church,  to  belong  to  which  is 
to  be  a  churchman  indeed,  and  a  Christian  too,  is  that  com- 
posed of  those  who  have  "  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,"  and  have  fled  to 
Christ,  as  the  only  safety  and  refuge  of  sinners. 

Many  assisted  in  building  the  ark  of  Noah  who  perished 
themselves.  It  is  not  likely  that  Noah  could  have  built  the 
whole  ark  in  the  time  prescribed.  It  is  found  by  calcula- 
tion, that  Noah's  ark,  by  measurement,  would  be  as  large  as 
several,  I  believe,  of  the  largest  ships  of  war,  and  able  to 
carry  as  much  as  they  would  be  able  to  carry,  crews  and  all. 
It  is  not  likely,  therefore,  that  Noah  could  have  built  it  all 
himself.  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  was  assisted  by  many,  for 
the  pay  they  received,  not  because  of  any  sympathy  they 
felt.  Many  of  the  shibboleths  that  are  sounded  loudest  in 
the  age  in  which  we  live,  do  not  come  from  zeal  for  the 
cause  of  Christ,  but  from  zeal  for  men's  own  advantage. 
Every  time  we  hear,  "  The  church,  the  church, of  the  Lord 
are  we,"  or  every  time  we  hear,  "  The  church  is  in  danger," 
or  "  The  chapel  is  in  peril,"  we  cannot  believe  that  these 
always  proceed  from  the  purest  and  the  loftiest  motives. 


HIGH    CnURCHMANSHIP.  221 

Many  side  with  the  church,  on  the  one  hand,  or  with  dis- 
sent, upon  the  other,  not  from  heart-felt  preference,  but  from 
expediency  and  meaner  ends.  And  on  the  other  hand,  very 
many  may  assist  in  extending  the  cause  of  Christ  on  the 
earth,  who  shall  not  be  saved  by  it.  It  is  a  very  solemn 
thing,  that  there  will  be  ministers  who  shall  form  and  build 
up  churches  for  eternity,  who  shall  perish  themselves ;  that 
many  shall  contribute  to  build  schools,  and  to  circulate 
Bibles,  and  to  extend  missions,  out  of  benevolent  motives  — 
not  out  of  Christian  ones,  who  are  not  Christians  them- 
selves. When  we  give  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  let  us  always 
precede  that  gift  by  this  first  and  chiefest  question,  "  Do  I 
belong  to  Christ  myself?  Am  I  a  Christian  myself?"  He 
only  who  is  a  Christian  can  give  truly  to  the  extension  of 
Christ's  cause ;  and  the  little  that  he  gives,  being  the  most 
that  he  can  spare,  will  be  blessed  by  Him  who  gave  him 
grace  to  give  it. 

The  same  wave  which  raised  the  ark  of  Noah  to  the  sky, 
overwhelmed  the  towers  and  the  citadels  of  the  earth.  The 
same  gospel  that  is  "  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  "  to  many,  is 
"  the  savor  of  death  unto  death "  to  others.  It  is  a  great 
law  in  God's  providence,  just  as  it  is  a  law  in  God's  grace, 
that  what  is  death  to  the  unbeliever  is  salvation  to  the  child 
of  God ;  the  same  sermon  that  carries  quickening  hopes 
into  one  heart,  carries  a  hardening  process  into  a  second ; 
the  same  tribulation  that  is  sanctified  to  one  man,  hardens  a 
second  man ;  the  same  wave  that  carried  Noah  nearer  to  his 
God,  overwhelmed  those  that  were  without  the  ark  in  irre- 
sistible destruction ;  the  same  lightning  flash  that  rent  the 
rocks  and  citadels  of  the  world,  only  shone  upon  the  surg- 
ing waters  before  Noah,  and  illuminated  his  troubled  path- 
way, till  he  rested  finally  upon  Ararat.  Let  us,  then,  pray 
that  the  gospel  we  hear  may  be  made  a  blessing  to  us,  not  a 
calamity  —  that  the  truth  we  hear  may  be  the  means  of  otir 
19* 


222  THE  cnuRcii  before  the  flood. 

acquittal,  not  the  cause  of  our  condemnation,  at  the  judg- 
ment-seat of  Christ. 

We  and  our  children  are  invited,  just  as  Noah  and  his 
children,  and  all  his  family,  were  invited  into  the  ark. 

There  is  nothing  to  be  done  now,  but  simply  to  accept 
•what  has  been  done  for  us.  The  great  misapprehension  of 
many  is,  that  they  have  something  to  do,  or  something  to 
suffer,  before  they  can  be  justified.  Now  the  revelation  of 
the  gospel  of  Christ  is,  that  all  has  been  done  that  God 
required  to  be  done,  all  suffered  that  the  law  demanded  to 
be  suffered,  and  that  now  we  have  only  to  repose  upon  that 
sacrifice,  and  rest  upon  that  righteousness,  and  be  ever- 
lastingly saved ;  what  we  are  called  upon  to  do,  is  just  what 
Noah  was  called  upon  to  do  —  to  bring  not  only  ourselves, 
but  our  children,  to  Christ,  and  just  as  they  are. 

Has  any  one  a  prodigal  son?  Bring  him  upon  your 
prayers  to  a  throne  of  grace ;  beseech  Him  in  whose  hands 
are  all  hearts,  to  change  that  heart ;  and  that  prodigal  will 
yet  gratify  your  spirits,  by  presenting  the  spectacle  of  one 
prostrate  at  his  Father's  footstool,  and  that  Father  falling 
on  his  neck,  and  kissing  him,  and  bidding  him  welcome 
home.  Have  you  infants  ?  Bring  them  into  the  ark  also ; 
let  these  flowers  be  presented  before  "  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness ; "  let  these  babes  be  dedicated  to  Christ,  and  be  taught 
to  feel  that  their  safety  is  to  be  within  the  ark  —  their  peril 
to  be  out  of  it. 

There  is  no  safety  for  us  or  for  our  children  anywhere  but 
in  the  true  church  of  the  redeemed,  that  is,  washed  in  the  blood 
and  arrayed  in  the  righteousness  of  Jesus.  This  one  thought 
should  absorb  or  annihilate  every  other  consideration.  Be 
not  anxious  so  much  whether  your  offspring  shall  be 
churchmen  or  dissenters,  as  whether  they  shall  be  Chris- 
tians. Bring  them  first  to  Christ,  and  then  they  will  not  go 
to  a  wrong  church ;  make  them  first  acquainted  with  the 


HIGH    CHURCHMANSHIP.  223 

excellences  of  the  Saviour,  and  then  they  will  prefer  the 
communion  that  reflects  his  glory  most  brightly,  and  makes 
known  his  gospel  most  faithfully ;  bring  your  children  first 
to  the  ark,  and  then  let  them  determine  at  their  leisure  into 
which  chamber  or  partition  of  the  ark  they  shall  prefer 
permanently  to  dwell,  —  recollecting  that  if  we  are  in  the 
true  ark,  there  is  but  one  door  for  admission,  but  one  window 
to  enlighten  them,  as  there  is  but  one  God  to  protect  them, 
and  one  mountain,  more  glorious  than  Ararat,  on  which 
they  shall  rest  and  dwell  for  ever. 

But  it  may  be  asked,  "  What  is  to  become  of  those  chil- 
dren who  are  not  so  privileged  as  Noah's,  in  having  a  father 
to  bring  them  to  Christ,  and  into  the  true  ark  ?  "  In  such 
a  case  a  Christian  church  is  the  sponsor  for  such  outcast 
ones.  The  duty  —  nay,  not  the  duty,  but  the  privilege  — 
devolves  upon  us  of  "  suffering  such  little  ones  to  come  to 
Jesus."  Those  children  that  wander  in  our  streets,  who  are 
our  future  housebreakers,  the  inmates  of  our  prisons  for  the 
next  twenty  years,  and  the  exiles  to  Botany  Bay,  are  not 
poisonous  weeds  —  they  are  only  soiled  and  trampled 
flowers ;  we  need  only  to  gather  them  up,  to  bring  them 
beneath  the  beams  of  the  everlasting  Sun,  and  beneath  the 
rains  of  the  sky,  and  they  will  bloom  and  beautify  the  land 
which  they  now  threaten  to  discredit  or  destroy. 

To  these  children  we  must  give  not  merely  a  secular 
education,  but  also,  and  emphatically,  a  religious  education. 
Secular  education  without  scriptural  is  giving  power,  but 
giving  no  principle  to  regulate  that  power :  it  is  like  build- 
ing ships  of  the  most  approved  construction,  but  forgetting 
or  neglecting  to  put  on  board  a  compass  and  a  chart,  and  to 
append  to  each  ship  a  helm ;  and  then  letting  these  vessels 
float  upon  the  ocean,  where  they  must  founder  in  the  first 
hurricane.  We  teach  the  young  secular  knowledge,  because 
it  is  useful,  important,  nay,  necessary  to  do  so ;  but  we  teach 


224  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

them,  contemporaneously,  the  knowledge  of  God  and  Christ 
Jesus,  which  not  only  beautifies  and  regulates  the  other, 
but  "  opens  "  for  them  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven,"  as  "  for  all 
believers." 

Some,  notwithstanding,  are  advocates  for  teaching  secular 
knowledge  only.  I  have  always  felt  great  pity  for  the 
schoolmaster  who  is  placed  in  a  school  and  told  —  "  Now 
teach  every  thing  upon  earth,  but  do  not  meddle  with  reli- 
gion ; "  and  I  have  often  thought  of  the  difficulties  in  which 
he  must'  be  placed.  Suppose  the  master,  for  instance,  is 
explaining  botany  to  his  school.  He  selects  a  rose,  and 
begins  to  tell  the  children  that  it  belongs  to  such  a  class,  or 
to  such  a  genus,  and  has  such  a  property  —  such  fragrance, 
such  virtues  ;  he  then  begins  to  tell  them  that  it  is  a  favorite 
symbol  w^ith  poets,  and  adds  also  that  it  is  associated  with 
the  history  of  England  —  the  white  and  red  roses  of  the 
houses  of  York  and  Lancaster ;  he  then  begins  to  tell  them 
that  it  is  used  also  in  a  book  called  the  Bible,  and  in  that 
book  it  describes  the  excellency  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
as  the  Rose  of  Sharon.  Up  starts  one  of  the  boys  — 
"  Hold,  sir ;  I  am  a  Jew  ;  I  do  not  believe  in  such  a  Saviour, 
and  I  cannot  admit  of  such  an  application."  Or  I  can 
imagine  him  describing  the  origin  of  books  —  what  they 
were  made  of — first  leaves,  then  parchment  on  a  roller; 
and  then  he  begins  to  tell  his  scholars  that  the  Bible  is  so 
called  as  being  The  Book,  the  best  book  in  the  world. 
Up  starts  a  sceptic  child  —  "  My  father  does  not  believe  the 
Bible,  and  I  do  not  believe  it ;  you  are  violating  the  rules  of 
the  school."  Now,  I  ask,  must  not  such  a  teacher  be  placed 
in  a  very  awkward  situation?  He  may  speak  of  every 
book,  from  the  book  of  Jasher  down  to  the  books  of  Mormon, 
—  but  he  must  not  speak  one  word  concerning  the  Bible ; 
he  may  mention  every  illustrious  person,  from  Noah  down 
to  Napoleon,  —  but  he  dare  not  speak  of  Him  who  hallowed 


HIGH    CHURCHMANSHIP.  22$ 

the  ver J  uni  rerse  with  his  glory  —  the  Lord  and  Saviour 
Jesus  Christ.  It  is  difficult  to  conceive  secular  education 
conveyed  in  schools  separate  from  religious  education.  I 
do  not  wish  the  mere  sectarianism  of  religion  to  be  taught; 
let  the  Bible  be  the  school-book,  and  I  am  satisfied ;  let  the 
Bible  be  the  great  Directory  in  the  school,  and  it  seems  to 
me  to  be  enough. 

We  are  not  against  teaching  secular  knowledge.  Far 
from  it.  Many  persons  err  in  this  respect.  They  teach 
their  children  the  way  to  heaven,  but  do  not  teach  them  the 
duties  and  responsibilities  of  earth.  Many  parents  educate 
their  children  as  if  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  world, 
but  to  get  over  it  like  skaters  upon  thin  ice,  as  rapidly  as 
they  can,  in  order  to  be  sure  at  length  to  be  in  heaven. 
Now  it  seems  to  me,  that  we  must  educate  our  children  for 
this  world,  as  well  as  for  heaven ;  not  for  the  adoption  of 
the  world's  maxims,  or  for  the  imitation  of  the  world's 
example,  but  for  the  discharge  of  the  world's  duties.  We 
must  teach  our  children,  by  all  means,  to  pray,  to  read,  to 
come  to  the  house  of  God,  to  visit  the  throne  of  grace ;  and 
fit  them,  by  the  grace  of  God,  for  the  house  of  God  in 
glory;  —  but  we  must  also  prepare  them  for  the  counter, 
and  for  the  exchange,  and  for  the  army,  and  for  the  navy,  — 
for  they  have  to  fulfil  responsibilities  in  the  world,  as  well 
as  to  prepare  for  heaven ;  they  have  duties  to  discharge  to 
Ca3sar,  as  well  as  privileges  to  receive  from  Christ.  The 
child  that  gets  a  wrong  view  of  the  world,  is  as  likely  to 
make  shipwreck  as  the  child  that  receives  a  wrong  view  of 
heaven.  The  world  is  the  great  battle  field,  on  which  the 
conflict  is  to  be  sustained:  the  shop,  the  exchange,  the 
army,  the  navy,  the  parliament,  are  the  places  where  our 
character  is  to  be  tested ;  and  unless  we  are  made  acquainted 
with  all  that  is  before  us  in  the  world,  and  all  that  we  are 
to  do  and  dare   and  conquer,  we   have  not  that  "faith" 


Of  TEffi"^^ 


226  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

which  "  overcomes  the  world,"  and  which  is  made  perfect 
in  fruition.  So  that  we  wish  to  teach  both  knowledges 
combined,  because  we  believe  both  to  be  necessary. 

There  are  but  two  modes  of  treatment  of  the  rising 
generation  —  namely,  the  prevention  of  the  crime  or  the 
punishment  of  the  criminal.  One  or  other  we  must  adopt. 
Surely  it  is  painful  to  see  children  before  a  magistrate,  at 
the  police  offices,  who  were  really  never  taught  the  vast 
distinctions  between  vice  and  virtue,  between  holiness  and 
sin,  but  who  were  allowed  to  grow  up  in  the  belief,  that  it  is 
their  duty  to  enrich  themselves  at  their  neighbors'  expense ; 
and  then  they  are  punished  for  principles  which  have  been 
ingrafted  on  their  earliest  recollections,  and  which  have 
been  taught  them  beneath  the  shelter  and  authority  of  a 
mother's  home.  We  ought  to  prevent  the  growth  of  the 
juvenile  criminal,  rather  than  punish  the  full-grown  and 
matured  criminal;  we  ought  to  exercise  the  privilege  of 
prevention  rather  than  the  stern  duty  of  punishment ;  and 
in  doing  so  we  should  not  only  fall  in  with  the  prescriptions 
of  the  gospel  more  fully,  but  we  should  leave  upon  society 
an  impression  more  permanent  and  more  valuable.  It 
would  be  more  economical  to  do  so.  We  pay  so  much  for 
poor's  rates,  and  police  tax,  and  for  gaols,  just  because  we 
feel  so  little  interest  and  do  so  little  for  the  instruction  of 
the  rising  race.  If  the  schoolmaster  do  not  lay  hold 
of  that  poor  child  in  St.  Giles's,  a  police-man  will  lay  hold 
of  him ;  if  we  do  not  place  him  in  a  Christian  school,  we 
shall  find  him  in  Newgate ;  if  we  were  to  give  more  for  the 
maintenance  of  Christian  schools,  we  should  be  taxed  much 
less  for  gaols,  and  all  the  punitive  apparatus  with  which 
our  country  is  furnished. 

Where  is  property  most  valuable  because  most  safe? 
Where  should  we  prefer  to  leave  an  estate  for  the  main- 
tenance of  our  children  ?     Would  it  not  be  in  this  country  ? 


HIGH    CHURCHMANSHIP.  227 

How  much  was  Lot's  house  worth  in  Sodom,  into  which 
the  rabble  were  ready  to  burst  every  moment  ?  How  much 
was  property  worth  in  France,  at  the  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion ?  How  comes  it  to  pass  that  the  barren  acres  of  Scot- 
land will  fetch  more  than  the  fertile  fields  of  Mahometan 
Turkey?  The  answer  is,  because  Christian  education  has 
made  a  visible  impression  upon  the  one,  while  the  other  is 
completely  overrun  with  ignorance  and  superstition.  But 
I  will  not  dwell  upon  such  grounds :  I  put  the  matter  upon 
the  highest  ground  of  all.  Train  children  for  Christ; 
prepare  their  hearts  for  immortality  and  glory ;  transplant 
them  from  a  soil  in  which  they  wither,  to  a  soil  in  which 
they  will  grow  and  prosper,  "luring  them  from  the  waters 
of  the  swelling  flood  into  communion  with  the  people  of 
God. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

ARARAT;    OR,   THE    FIRST   MORNING    OF   A   NEW   DAY. 

"  The  wave  is  breaking  on  the  shore, 
The  echo  fading  from  the  chime, 
Again  the  shadow  moveth  o'er 
The  dial-plate  of  time. 

"  Oh !  in  that  dying  year  hath  been 
The  sum  of  all  since  time  began ; 
The  birth  and  death,  the  joy  and  pain. 
Of  nature  and  of  man." 

"And  Noah  builded  an  altar  unto  the  Lord;  and  took  of  every  clean 
beast,  and  of  every  clean  fowl,  and  offered  burnt  offerings  on  the 
altar.  —  Gen.  viii.  20. 

NoAH,  a  member  of  the  Church  before  the  Flood, 
commemorated  the  past  and  commenced  the  future  by  a 
religious  act.  He  owned  God  in  the  end,  as  he  had  owned 
him  in  the  beginning  of  his  peculiar,  and,  as  he  thought  at 
first,  his  perilous  career.  God  with  Noah  was  not  a  mere 
speculative  idea  that  floated  in  his  head,  but  an  ever 
present,  ever  plastic,  ever  consolatory  conviction  ;  he  began 
his  voyage  with  God,  he  ended  it  in  worship  and  adoration 
to  God. 

As  Noah  ended  one  world  and  began  another,  we  should 
end  one  year  and  begin  the  next.  A  year  is  the  epitome 
of  an  age ;  an  age  is  the  expansion  of  a  year ;  and  both 
ought  to  be  made  by  us,  as  they  were  meant  to  be  by  Him 


ARARAT.  229 

who  created  tliem,  subservient  to  the  highest,  the  holiest, 
and  the  most  beneficent  of  ends.  End,  therefore,  each 
year,  and  begin  its  successor,  as  you  would  wish  to  end  this 
life,  and  to  begin  the  next.  Let  the  last  notes  of  praise  in 
1852  mingle  with  the  first  notes  of  prayer  for  1853.  Let 
us  close  great  epochs  as  we  would  wish  to  close  the  grand 
epoch.  Time  is  the  porch  of  eternity,  —  the  pathway  to  a 
crown  of  glory,  or  to  an  heirdom  of  misery  and  sorrow  and 
grief.  He  must  be  blind  indeed,  who  has  not  seen  God's 
hand  sweep  along  the  currents  of  the  year  that  is  gone ; 
and  he  must  be  deaf  indeed,  who  has  not  heard  his  voice 
upon  the  right  and  upon  the  left,  saying,  "  This  is  the  way, 
walk  ye  in  it;"  and  he  must  be  insensible  and  hardened 
indeed,  who,  having  closed  one  year  without  God,  can  risk, 
or  dare,  or  venture  to  commence  and  continue  its  successor 
in  defiance  of  God.  Beautifully,  then,  did  Noah  close  the 
world  that  passed  away  with  solemn  worship ;  most  appro- 
priately did  he  commence  an  unsounded  world,  into  whose 
ups  and  downs,  and  heights  and  depths,  his  weary  feet  were 
soon  to  go,  by  seeking  him  to  be  with  him  in  the  future, 
lighting  it  up  with  the  love  which  had  been  with  him  in  the 
past,  superintending  him  by  his  paternal  and  benevolent 
care. 

But,  in  looking  at  this  act  of  Noah,  which  closed  one 
epoch  and  commenced  another,  let  us  try  to  ascertain  what 
was  the  first  feeling  that  it  expressed.  No  doubt  it  was 
thanksgiving,  adoration,  and  praise.  Ararat  was  to  Noah  a 
standing  monument  that  God's  overshadowing  wings  had 
been  over  him  upon  the  stormy  deep,  that  God's  fatherly 
eye  had  been  fastened  upon  that  little,  often  doubting,  but 
still  safe  voyager !  And  as  he  thought  that  the  same  Flood 
that  was  the  grave  of  a  vast  world,  was  the  preservation  of 
his  little  family;  surely  it  became  him,  it  was  worthy  of 
him  as  a  Christian,  for  such  he  was,  to  offer  thanksgiving 
20 


230  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

and  praise  to  Him  who  had  kept  his  eyes  from  tears,  his 
ark  from  foundering,  and  placed  him  on  Ararat,  a  monu- 
ment of  preserving  goodness.  New-year's  day  is  the  Ararat 
of  Christians  still.  It  is  that  day  on  which  we  stand  and 
look  back  on  all  the  way  that  God  has  guided  us;  and 
from  whose  summit,  as  it  were,  we  may  look  forward ;  and 
if  we  have  fears  and  faintings,  and  dim  and  sad  prospects, 
we  need  have  no  misgivings;  because  1853  is  as  naked 
before  our  God  as  1852,  and  he  that  poured  the  one  from 
his  hand,  and  has  taken  it  again  to  himself,  is  pouring  forth 
the  other  for  us,  to  carry  us  a  stage  nearer  to  himself.  And 
as  we  look  back  from  each  Ararat,  the  first  day  of  a  new 
year,  upon  the  past,  we  can  see  rocks  as  Noah  saw,  and 
debris  and  fragments  of  barks  and  disorganized  things ;  but 
we  can  see  what  Noah  also  saw,  the  green  grass  that  begins 
again  to  grow,  and  the  young  flowers  that  begin  again  to 
bloom;  and  around  its  awful  brow,  girdling  it  with  fresh 
glory  and  grand  riches,  the  rainbow,  the  memorial  of  a  God 
at  peace  with  mankind,  and  mankind  accepted  and  blessed 
in  covenant  with  him.  Have  we,  then,  standing  where  we 
now  are,  no  mercies,  like  Noah,  to  commemorate  ?  Have 
we  no  God  to  praise  for  the  past  ?  have  we  no  Ararat  that 
prompts  that  praise?  If  we  are  this  day  in  health,  and 
some  in  prosperity,  and  all  in  safety,  to  whom  do  we  give 
the  praise?  Do  we  praise  the  ship  that  carried  us,  the 
skill  of  the  crew  that  manned  it,  the  winds  and  the  waves, 
as  the  heathen  do  ?  or  do  we  praise  the  love  and  faithfulness 
of  that  God  who  controls  the  archangel  that  is  next  his 
throne,  and  takes  care  of  the  meanest  reptile  that  was  ad- 
mitted into  the  ark,  as  Christians  should  ?  Let  God  have 
all  the  praise  for  the  last  year,  let  him  have  our  hearts' 
complete  confidence  for  the  coming  one.  I  say,  like  Noah, 
we  may  have  much  to  deplore  in  the  past,  and  much  that  we 
could  wish  were  not  swept  away  by  the  past ;  but  we  have 


ARAEAT.  231 

never  been  deserted  by  Him  who  remembered  Noah,  and 
has  always  remembered  us.  As  with  Noah,  many  a  fair 
possession  may  have  been  swept  away  by  the  waves  of 
1852 ;  like  Noah,  we  may  have  to  deplore  many  a  green 
field  laid  below  its  flood,  many  a  fair  fabric  shattered  by  its 
throes ;  like  Noah,  we  may  have  to  weep  for  many  a  near 
and  dear  one  snatched  away,  and  buried  beneath  the  floods 
of  the  past ;  though  we  can  cherish,  what  he  could  not  per- 
haps concerning  many  he  knew,  the  hopes  of  a  sure  and  a 
certain  resurrection.  We  may  have  to  deplore  many  bright 
lights  that  once  gladdened  the  horizon  now  quenched  and 
extinguished  for  ever ;  we  may  have  to  lament  gaps  in  our 
homes,  vacancies  in  the  circle  of  our  friends,  heavier  hearts 
as  the  years  put  upon  them  their  increasing  load ;  but  still, 
if  we  be  under  the  overshadowing  wings  of  God,  the  wave 
that  has  swept  away  what  we  most  loved,  has  only  carried 
us,  as  it  bore  Noah,  nearer  ^o  the  God  that  took  them.  And 
every  shock  that  we  have  felt  has  been  paternal,  —  it  was 
the  wave,  not  the  rock,  —  and  every  anxiety  we  have  felt 
has  been  unfounded,  and  every  dispensation  has  been  mercy. 
And  who  does  not  feel,  that  our  most  anxious  moments  have 
been  our  most  sanctifying  moments  ?  so  that  we  can  say,  in 
our  sober  and  solemn  moments,  that  affliction  was  bitter 
indeed  while  it  was  borne,  but  it  was  good  for  me  neverthe- 
less that  I  was  afflicted ;  and  though  no  tribulation  for  the 
present  seemeth  joyous,  yet  it  has  been  working  out  the 
peaceable  fruits  of  righteousness,  unto  us  who  have  been 
exercised  thereby.  And  have  we  not  discovered  long  ago, 
what  we  all  find  sooner  or  later,  and  what  we  are  so  reluc- 
tant to  believe  until  we  do  find  it,  that  all  things  work  for 
good  to  them  who  love  God  ?  I  believe  that  if  every  true 
Christian  were  to  speak  his  mind,  he  would  say,  in  taking  a 
retrospect  of  the  past,  There  is  not  one  thing  that  has  oc- 
curred in  it,  however  bitter  it  tasted  at  the  moment,  how- 


232  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

ever  painfully  I  felt  it,  however  much  I  repined,  I  would 
wish  to  be  left  out  of  my  lot ;  or  one  single  thing  to  be 
reversed  in  the  way  of  suffering  or  bereavement,  of  losses 
or  crosses,  in  God's  good  providence.  And  what  is  this,  but 
the  human  heart  uttering  the  testimony  from  its  silent  and 
its  solemn  depths,  that  "  all  things  work  together  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God,  and  are  the  called  according  to  his  pur- 
pose ; "  and  when  we  said,  all  these  things  are  against  us,  as 
thought  the  patriarch  when  he  first  said  it,  we  little  knew  all 
these  things  were  working  directly  for  us. 

I  have  thus  looked  at  Noah's  offering,  closing  a  world 
that  was  gone,  and  commencing  a  world  that  has  come,  as 
eucharistic  or  thanksgiving  offering.  But  it  was  more  than 
that.  If  it  had  been  merely  a  thanksgiving  offering,  he 
would  have  taken  of  the  fruits  and  the  flowers  of  the  earth, 
and  offered  them  to  God ;  but  he  took  of  every  clean  beast, 
and  offered  it  to  God,  and  that  was  an  evidence  that  it  was 
an  expiatory  or  atoning  sacrifice.  And  did  Noah  need 
such  ?  Do  we  need  it  ?  That  is  the  right  way  to  put  the 
question,  and  if  our  own  hearts  condemn  us,  God  is  greater 
than  our  hearts,  and  knoweth  all  things.  Noah  recollected 
sins  in  the  past,  misgivings  in  the  present;  many  a  fear 
that  he  had  entertained,  many  a  doubt  that  he  had  spirit- 
ually had.  He  recollected  how  often  he  had  said  in  his 
heart,  when  some  huge  billow  swept  past,  or  some  great 
wave  made  his  frail  bark  vibrate  with  its  shock,  or  reel  and 
stagger,  how  often  he  had  said,  as  he  felt  that  shock,  God 
hath  forsaken  me,  and  my  God  hath  forgotten  me ;  and  like 
the  Israelites  in  another  case.  It  had  been  better  for  me  and 
mine,  that  we  had  perished  with  the  rest  of  the  antedilu- 
vians in  the  Flood,  than  to  be  thus  subjected  to  fears  and 
fightings  without,  and  only  to  perish  in  the  end.  When  he 
stood  on  Ararat,  and  recollected  all  his  doubts  of  God,  all 
his  misgivings,  all   his   suspicions,  all   his  fears,  his   first 


AKAKAT.  233 

feeling  was,  I  need  the  cleansing  of  a  blood  that  will 
cleanse  from  all  sin;  I  need  to  flee  to  an  atonement  in 
which  alone  there  can  be  forgiveness  for  the  past,  and 
through  which  alone  I  can  have  strength,  and  peace,  and 
confidence  for  the  future.  When  we  look  back  upon  the 
year  that  has  passed  away,  have  we  not  similar  recollec- 
tions ?  I  do  believe,  that  not  the  least  sin  that  Christians 
commit  is  that  of  suspecting  God.  The  last  thing  that  we 
let  go  —  it  is  a  very  strange  thing,  but  it  is  so  —  after 
grace  has  changed  the  heart,  is  that  innate  suspicion  of 
God,  which  is  just  the  projected  shadow  of  Adam's  falhng 
from  God,  and  repeating  itself  among  the  traces  of  the 
primal  ruin,  in  the  19th  century,  in  the  hearts  of  mankind. 
We  go  too  often  to  the  throne  of  grace,  as  to  that  of  an 
avenging  Being,  whose  wrath  we  have  to  deprecate ;  we  go 
to  a  communion  table  with  fears,  and  doubtings,  and  mis- 
givings, feeling  that  it  is  a  very  awful  and  terrible  thing ; 
and  we  listen  to  the  gospel  as  if  it  were  a  dreadful  thing ; 
so  much  so,  that  in  our  counting-houses,  in  our  shops,  in  our 
various  professions,  the  idea  of  God  coming  vividly  before 
us  would  be  felt  by  many  to  be  a  very  intrusive  thing. 
Now  I  ought  to  feel,  when  about  my  business,  as  I  should 
when  I  am  praying,  or  preaching,  or  reading.  The  ser- 
vice of  God  is  not  simply  prayer,  praise,  reading.  These 
are  the  nutriment  of  what  constitutes  the  service  of  God. 
The  service  of  God  is  behind  the  counter,  in  the  ware- 
houses, in  the  parliament,  in  the  law  courts.  There  man  is 
to  show  himself  the  servant  of  God ;  and  in  the  sanctuary 
he  obtains  and  gathers  that  manna  on  the  one  day  of  the 
week,  which  forms  strength  and  nutriment  to  him  during  all 
the  days  that  follow.  But  is  not  our  idea  of  God  too  often 
that  of  dread?  And  hence  our  feelings  towards  him  are 
those  of  suspicion ;  and  when  we  find  things  turn  out  better 
than  we  expected,  when  we  find  that  what  we  feared  in 
20* 


234:  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

criminal  distrust  comes  to  be  the  greatest  mercy  that 
dawned  upon  us,  we  are  justly  ashamed,  for  never  do  we 
see  the  shadows  of  sin  so  sharp  and  clear  in  their  outlines, 
as  when  they  are  seen  in  the  light  of  unmerited  and  unex- 
pected goodness.  It  is  when  we  stand  on  the  Ararat  where 
God's  goodness  has  placed  us,  that  we  see  how  sinful  were 
our  past  misgivings,  how  grievous  were  our  short-comings. 
A  man  never  repents  most  heartily,  until  he  repents  of  sin, 
amidst  the  enjoyment  of  unexpected  mercy.  Man  will  not 
repent  aright  on  Mount  Gerizim,  he  will  not  repent-  heartily 
on  Mount  Ebal ;  but  when  he  kneels  on  Calvary,  and  sees 
his  sin  in  the  light  of  God's  transcendent  benevolence  and 
love,  he  looks  up,  and,  like  Peter,  goes  forth  and  weeps 
bitterly.  Many  a  time,  during  the  year  that  has  passed 
away,  have  we  mistrusted  God.  Something  happened  to 
you  —  you  put  a  bad  construction  upon  it.  Some  unex- 
pected dispensation  overtook  you  —  you  instinctively  said, 
This  is  wrath,  not  mercy.  Some  trial  you  were  perhaps 
placed  in,  and  during  it  you  had  recourse  to  every  thing  and 
any  thing,  and  anybody,  except  God. 

We  must  say  of  1851,  "We  have  left  undone  what  we 
ought  to  have  done,  and  we  have  done  what  we  ought  not 
to  have  done,  and  there  is  no  health  in  us.  Enter  not  into 
judgment,  O  Lord,  with  thy  servants ;  for  in  thy  sight  no 
man  living  can  be  justified.  But  there  is  forgiveness  with 
thee,  that  thou  mayest  be  feared."  There  is  pardon  for 
the  past,  complete,  entire,  irreversible ;  there  is  peace  and 
hope  for  the  future,  because  thou  art  the  same  yesterday, 
today,  and  for  ever. 

Thus  I  have  shown,  that  Noah's  sacrifice  was  not  simply 
eucharistic,  but  expiatory,  "  Without  shedding  of  blood  there 
is  no  remission  of  sin."  Far  more  privileged  are  we  than 
Noah ;  he  had  his  sacrifice  to  slay,  we  have  our  sacrifice 
already  slain ;  he  had  to  make  atonement,  through  which  he 


ARAKAT.  235 

looked  for  forgiveness ;  we  have  only  to  accept  an  atone- 
ment already  perfect  and  complete.  In  other  words,  Noah 
had  to  prepare  his  sacrifice ;  we  have  to  thank  God  for  one 
prepared ;  and  to  hear,  echoing  along  the  centuries,  incapa- 
ble of  being  spent  or  silenced,  those  grand  words  with  which 
the  great  sacrifice  closed,  "  It  is  finished."  And  if  we  have 
a  sacrifice  near  to  every  one ;  if  it  costs  us  nothing,  is  acces- 
sible to  all,  available  to  all ;  it  will  be  much  more  criminal, 
if,  on  this,  the  Ararat  between  the  years,  as  Noah's  was 
between  the  worlds,  we  do  not  have  recourse  to  that  only 
sacrifice,  and  seek  forgiveness  for  the  past,  and  guidance  for 
the  future.  Let  Christ,  the  Altar,  be  our  Ararat  for  1853  ; 
let  his  atonement  be  our  plea;  let  his  mercies  be  our  trust; 
and  let  his  all -prevailing  intercession  be  the  smoke  and  the 
incense  of  that  sacrifice,  ever  available  for  us,  and  even  for 
the  chiefest  of  sinners.  We  rest  every  Christmas  between 
the  years;  let  us  pray  that  the  past,  which  cannot  be 
recalled,  may  be  pardoned;  and  the  future,  which  is  yet 
pure,  innocent,  and  unstained,  may  be  charged  by  us, 
through  God's  grace,  with  a  mission  that  shall  bless  man- 
kind, and  give  glory  to  Him  who  is  our  dwelling-place  in 
all  generations.  Let  us  enter  on  each  coming  year,  as 
Noah  entered  on  his  new  world,  with  praise  for  the  past, 
and  prayer  for  pardon ;  confidence  for  the  future,  and  close 
walking  with  God.  1853  has  just  emerged  from  the  waters 
of  past  years,  yet  beautiful,  ruddy,  and  like  a  giant,  ready 
to  run  its  race.  Let  us  approach  it  from  the  altar,  let  us 
enter  on  it  by  a  new  and  a  living  way.  Let  us  walk  along 
its  channels  with  God,  as  Noah  walked ;  and  at  its  close,  if 
it  close  upon  us,  we  shall  have,  like  Noah,  to  praise  and 
thank  Him  who  has  kept  us  throughout.  What  shall  be 
the  character  of  the  year  that  comes  ?  We  cannot  deter- 
mine. No  horoscope  of  man's  can  cast  it ;  no  penetration 
of  political  sagacity  can  ascend  it ;  what  new  features  it  wiU 


236  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

develop,  wliat  strange  and  mysterious  currents  will  rush 
along  its  bed,  what  cataracts  and  convulsions  will  take  place 
before  it  is  closed,  whither  it  will  bear  humanity,  to  what 
destiny  it  shall  carry  the  ark  of  God,  we  know  not ;  God 
only  knows.  But  let  us  enter  on  it,  trusting  on  the  God  who 
is  in  it ;  let  us,  in  the  language  of  the  apostle,  to  vary  the 
figure  which  I  have  employed,  "  let  us  run  with  patience 
the  race  that  is  set  before  us ;  looking  unto  Jesus  the  author 
and  finisher  of  our  faith;  who,  for  the  joy  that  was  set 
before  him,  endured  the  cross,  despising  the  shame,  and  is 
set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  God."  And 
we  are  perfectly  sure,  come  storm,  come  tempest,  come  con- 
vulsion, come  the  dislocation  of  all  things,  come  war,  come 
invasion,  come  rebellion,  come  what  may,  a  Christian  is  just 
as  safe  as  Noah  was  in  the  ark  —  "  Nothing  shall  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God,  that  is  in  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord." 
But  whilst  we  have  the  consciousness  of  this  safety,  let  us 
look  to  the  coming  year  as  suggesting  to  us  grave  responsi- 
bilities. The  evening  twilight  of  1852  is  now  mingling 
with  the  morning  twilight  of  1853.  The  waters  of  the  past 
and  the  waters  of  the  future,  the  former  to  their  resting- 
place,  the  latter  to  their  origin,  meet  together  where  we  now 
are.  The  old  year  has  laid  down  its  burden  at  God's 
throne,  and  the  new  year  has  come  to  occupy  its  place 
Let  us,  then,  look  at  the  coming  year  as  a  scene  of  duty,  as 
an  opportunity  of  privilege,  a  series  of  responsibilities,  which 
never,  never  can  be  exhausted.  Seize  the  golden  seconds ; 
moments  now  may  be  the  fathers  of  an  endless  eternity. 
The  year  that  is  coming  may  be  the  fulcrum  on  which  ever- 
lasting joy  or  everlasting  sorrow  vibrates,  in  reference  to 
some  one  whose  heart  now  bounds,  and  who  looks  and  feels 
as  healthy  as  the  healthiest  among  mankind.  This  year 
may  be  to  us  the  full  tide;  —  lose  it,  and  you  are  lost  for 
ever.     It  may  be  the  seed-time  of  eternity ;  miss  it,  and  the 


ARARAT.  237 

harvest  comes,  and  there  are  only  thorns  to  gather,  instead 
of  golden  wheat.  While  a  sense  of  past  sin,  therefore, 
humbles  us,  while  a  sense  of  the  vanity  of  the  past  saddens 
us,  let  us  take  courage  for  the  future ;  and,  in  God's  strength, 
and  guided  by  God's  word,  enter  upon  it,  to  meet  its  doubts, 
and  to  avail  ourselves  of  its  privileges ;  ajid  then  to  live 
will  be  Christ,  and  to  die  will  be  great  gain.  And  what  a 
solemn  thought  is  this,  now  we  have  been  spared  during  one 
year,  that  the  present  may  be  our  last.  What  a  very 
solemn  thought ;  we  may  have  entered  on  a  year,  the  close 
of  which  we  shall  not  see.  It  has  now  opened  upon  us 
joyously ;  it  has  dawned  upon  our  firesides,  upon  our  homes  ; 
on  our  palaces,  on  our  counting-houses,  on  our  various 
duties,  excitements,  responsibilities ;  but  how  it  shall  close, 
God  only  knows.  Its  current  may  be  carrying  soon  the 
dead  dust  of  some  one  to  its  resting-place,  and  the  quickened 
soul  of  some  one  to  the  judgment-seat  of  God.  Can  we 
avert  its  worst  issues  ?  In  God's  strength,  because  invited 
by  God's  word,  we  can ;  and  therefore  we  may  now  deter- 
mine, that  this  year  shall  close  upon  us  in  benedictions; 
and  that,  whether  we  shall  see  it  end  below,  as  hearers  in 
the  sanctuary  upon  earth,  or  whether  we  shall  find  it  end  in 
eternity,  inmates  of  the  world  to  come,  we  may  resolve,  by 
the  grace  of  God,  that  it  shall  find  us,  if  living,  living  to 
Christ,  if  taken  away,  found  in  him,  not  having  our  own 
righteousness,  but  his,  and  standing  amid  them  who  have 
washed  their  robes,  and  made  them  white  in  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb. 

While  thus  we  call  to  mind  the  goodness  of  the  years  that 
are  past ;  and  render  to  God,  to  whom  it  is  due,  a  tribute 
of  thanksgiving  for  all  the  blessings  that  he  has  mingled 
with  them,  let  us  enter  on  the  coming  year,  the  end  of 
which  we  cannot  see,  in  God's  strength ;  availing  ourselves 
of  every  privilege,  and  accepting  every  duty ;  running  the 


238  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

race  set  before  us,  looking  to  Jesus.  When  Noah  looked 
back  from  Ararat  upon  the  past,  no  doubt  he  rejoiced  that 
while  the  Flood  swept  away  much  that  was  so  beautiful, 
and  buried  in  its  deep  waters  many  that  were  to  him  so 
dear;  yet  he  felt  that  it  had  not  swept  away  one  real, 
spiritual  privilege  which  God  had  given  him.  He  felt  still, 
that  his  God,  his  altar,  his  religion,  his  worship,  all  were 
left  behind  unscathed,  as  real,  as  available,  as  when  Adam 
walked  in  Paradise,  the  unfallen.  And  cannot  we,  like- 
wise, say  the  same,  anyd  all  the  scenes  that  have  passed 
over  us  during  the  last  four  years  ?  Notwithstanding  revo- 
lutions, counter-revolutions,  coups  d'etat,  and  the  breaking 
up  of  kingdoms  and  thrones,  and  the  setting  up  of  presiden- 
tial chairs  and  empires;  —  notwithstanding  all  that  has 
happened  in  the  religious  world,  all  that  has  occurred  in  the 
political  world ;  famine  and  plague,  and  changes,  and  judg- 
ments, and  changes,  ceaseless,  one  upon  another,  like  the 
waves  of  the  sea ;  yet,  how  delightful,  not  one  privilege  of 
ours  has  been  swept  away  from  us !  Our  Bible  remains,  the 
floods  have  not  touched  it ;  and  no  man's  shadow,  be  it  the 
shadow  of  priest  or  pope,  may  be  cast  upon  that  page 
against  my  will,  when  I  am  called  upon  by  my  Father  to 
read  his  message  to  me.  And  there  remains  not  only  our 
Bible,  but,  scarcely  less  precious,  our  privilege  and  freedom 
of  worship.  There  are  lands  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea, 
where  the  wretched  tyranny  and  despotism  of  bygone  days 
is  scattering  the  Christian  congregations,  and  driving  forth 
from  the  soil  men  who  have  the  courage  to  fear  God,  and 
who  assert  their  right  —  a  right  which  it  is,  has  been,  and 
will  be  —  to  worship  Him  in  their  own  way,  in  spirit  and 
in  truth.  Many  a  fair  assemblage  of  Christians  has  been 
scattered,  and  many  more,  from  what  I  know,  will  be  scat- 
tered, before  the  year  is  done.  But  how  precious,  that  the 
chimes  of  Sabbath  bells  still  echo  in  the  ear  of  England! 


ARARAT.  239 

How  delightful  it  is,  what  ground  for  gratitude,  that  we  can 
still,  under  our  own  vine  and  our  own  fig-tree,  worship  God 
with  none  to  make  us  afraid.  Let  us,  therefore,  think  less 
of  the  losses  we  have  sustained,  and  think  more  thankfully 
of  the  blessings  that  remain ;  and  we  will  praise  God  with 
warmer  hearts,  and  a  richer  song,  than  ever  we  have  praised 
him  before.  And  whatever  the  floods  have  swept  away,  the 
throne  of  grace  still  remains.  Neither  the  autocrat  on  his 
throne,  nor  any  other  power,  can  touch  that  Divine  throne, 
that  remains  for  ever  the  throne  of  grace,  and  at  which  the 
humblest  beggar  is  as  welcome  with  his  petition,  as  the 
greatest  monarch  that  sways  the  sceptre,  or  that  wears  a 
crown.  And  the  Saviour  remains,  still  accessible,  still  be- 
seeching, still  pleading.  His  blood  has  lost  nothing  of  its 
efficacy ;  his  love  has  not  lost  any  thing  of  its  fervor ;  he  is 
now  ready  to  receive,  to  bless,  and  to  make  happy,  me,  and 
you,  and  all  that  will  humble  themselves  to  bow  at  his  foot- 
stool, and  take  blessings  without  paying  for  them,  without 
money  and  without  price.  And  the  Comforter  still  remains. 
If  comforts  have  been  taken  from  you,  the  Comforter 
remains.  If  streamlets  have  dried  midst  summer's  heat,  or 
have  been  frozen  by  winter's  cold,  the  grand  and  inexhausti- 
ble fountain  still  remains.  No  man  can  be  sad  for  whom 
God  the  Comforter  still  is;  and  no  man  can  be  really 
happy,  to  whom  the  Comforter  is  a  stranger ;  and  he  who 
has  this  Comforter,  in  the  loss  of  every  outward  comfort, 
may  say,  "Although  the  fig-tree  shall  not  blossom,  neither 
shall  fruit  be  in  the  vines ;  the  labor  of  the  olive  shall  fail, 
and  the  fields  shall  yield  no  meat ;  the  flock  shall  be  cut  off 
from  the  fold,  and  there  shall  be  no  more  herd  in  the  stalls ; 
yet  I  will  rejoice  in  the  Lord,  I  will  joy  in  the  God  of  my 
salvation." 

Thus  while  we  look  back  upon  each  year,  that  like  a 
world  has  passed  away,  and  while  we  look  forward  and  pur- 


240  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

pose  in  reference  to  each  coming  year,  that,  like  an  untrod- 
den world,  is  yet  to  be,  let  us  learn  these  plain  lessons  from 
all  we  have  been  speaking  of.  First,  the  safety  of  the  peo- 
ple of  God.  There  is  no  man  who  will  not  be  rocked,  or 
driven,  or  overwhelmed  by  the  wave,  unless  he  be  found  in 
Christ  Jesus.  And  what  do  I  mean  by  this  expression  ?  It 
is  a  theological  expression,  some  will  say ;  it  means,  dear 
reader,  that  your  heart's  trust,  life,  hope,  aspirations,  confi- 
dence for  the  future,  and  conviction  of  forgiveness  for  the 
past,  all  rest  upon  one,  and  that  one  the  Lamb  of  God,  that 
taketli  away  the  sins  of  the  world.  And  if  you  are  one  of 
his,  by  being  clothed  in  his  righteousness,  by  being  animated 
by  his  Holy  Spirit,  showing  that  this  is  true,  by  reflecting 
his  character  before  mankind,  then  it  is  true  of  you,  that 
neither  life  nor  death,  nor  things  past,  nor  things  present, 
nor  things  to  come,  nor  height  nor  depth,  nor  death  nor  life, 
nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  any  other 
creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  you  from  the  love  of  God, 
which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  Thus  the  safety  of  the 
people  of  God  is  contingent,  not  upon  any  thing  in  this  life, 
but  simply  upon  this,  that  they  have  taken  Christ  for  their 
Saviour,  and  given  themselves  to  him,  as  the  subjects  of  his 
salvation. 

In  the  next  place,  our  sense  of  safety,  such  as  I  have 
now  stated,  real  and  well  founded  —  for  it  is  not  fanaticism, 
nor  enthusiasm,  nor  delusion,  but  a  solemn,  real,  earnest 
truth,  that  a  man  who  is  a  Christian  never  can  perish.  "  I 
give  unto  them  eternal  life,  and  none  shall  pluck  them  out 
of  my  hand."  You  may  be  tossed  as  Noah  was,  you  may 
have  fears,  and  fightings,  and  misgivings ;  but,  blessed  be 
God,  our  safety,  and  the  permanence  of  that  safety,  is  not 
contingent  upon  the  strength  of  our  faith,  or  the  pressure 
of  our  fears,  but  upon  the  strength  of  his  arm  that  leads 
us,  and   upon   the   surety  and  faithfulness  of  a  promise- 


ARARAT.  241 

keeping  and  faithful  God.  But,  whilst  we  are  thus  safe  in 
this  consciousness  of  safety,  we  may,  and  if  Christians  we 
must,  often  long  for  rest.  It  was  not  sinful  in  Noah  to  say 
within  himself,  I  wish  that  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep 
were  shut;  I  Avish  that  the  windows  of  heaven  were  closed; 
I  wish  that  this  weary  tossing  on  the  sea  —  and  those  who 
have  made  long  voyages  by  sea  know  its  weariness  —  I 
wish  that  this  weary  tossing  on  the  sea,  the  more  weary  to 
me  because  a  landsman,  and  consequently  more  unaccus- 
tomed to  it,  was  ended.  That  was  the  natural  instinct 
of  the  human  heart,  not  forbidden  or  repudiated  by  the 
regenerated  heart :  and  so  we  in  this  world  may  long  for 
deliverance ;  there  is  no  sin  in  wishing  for  that  day  wdien 
the  groans  of  creation  shall  cease ;  and  the  great  storm- 
queller  shall  come  forth  from  the  holy  place  and  wave  his 
hand  over  all  creation,  and  there  shall  be  a  great  and  a 
lasting  calm.  I  do  not  say  that  it  is  natural  to  long  for 
death ;  I  have  often  said  death  is  a  most  unnatural  thing ; 
and  I  cannot  believe  that  any  human  being  longs  for  death ; 
but  what  a  Christian  longs  for  is,  that  true  rest,  that  perfect 
sunshine,  that  complete  exemption  from  cares  and  fears, 
that  perfect  knowledge  of  all  mysteries,  that  uninterrupted 
communion  with  the  Fountain  of  all  peace,  which  we  know 
shall  be,  and  for  which  we  are  to  wait,  and  wait  patiently, 
and  be  still.  While  looking  for  it,  and  anticipating  it,  we 
may  say.  Come,  Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly;  we  may  say, 
Why  tarry  his  chariot  wheels  ?  Even  the  ransomed  saints 
plead.  Lord,  Lord,  how  long  ?  And  so  we  may  long  and 
wish  for  the  advent  of  that  day,  when  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness shall  rise  and  shine  from  his  meridian  throne.  And 
we  are  willing  to  pass  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death,  for  the  sake  of  what  is  beyond  it ;  and  death,  to  a 
Christian,  after  all  is  not  dying.  I  believe  that  Christ's 
death  has  quite  altered  death  in  the  case  of  the  true 
21 


242  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

believer.  The  Bible  speaks  of  the  valley  of  the  shadow 
of  death ;  there  never  can  be  a  shadow  to  an  object  unless 
there  be  a  strong  light  upon  that  object :  and  the  stronger 
the  light  upon  the  object,  the  more  strong  and  dense  is  its 
shadow.  Now,  when  we  speak  of  the  shadow  of  death,  it 
means  death  in  the  light  of  the  Sun  of  righteousness,  and 
therefore  there  is  a  shadow  but  just  because  there  is  light. 
All  that  remains  is  death's  shadow;  just  as  the  shadow 
of  the  moon  coming  between  the  sun  and  the  earth,  rests 
upon  us,  but  the  moon  itself  is  far  distant.  So  death 
destroyed,  removed,  put  away,  has  a  shadow,  to  let  us  know 
that  he  is.  But  that  shadow  is  the  evidence  to  us  that 
Christ  has  overcome  him,  and  that  we  are  no  more  to  fear 
him  as  a  formidable  and  a  terrible  opponent.  And  thus  we 
may  long  for  that  millennial  bliss,  when  all  things  shall  be 
made  new ;  and  the  whole  creation  groaning  and  travailing 
in  pain,  waiting  to  be  delivered,  shall  be  restored  to  its 
pristine  harmony;  and  the  very  brutes  that  now  quarrel 
with  each  other  shall  lie  down  in  peace  and  quiet  among 
themselves,  and  in  obedience  to  man,  into  whose  hands  the 
reins  shall  be  replaced,  and  the  sceptre  and  the  government 
of  this  world,  be  put  under  him. 

Let  us  learn  that  not  only  is  God  within  the  church, 
keeping  all  in  peace  there,  but  he  is  outside  the  church, 
restraming  all  there ;  God  was  not  only  in  Noah's  ark, 
maintaining  peace  there,  but  God  outside  Noah's  ark, 
meting  out  the  wind  and  the  storm,  and  regulating  all  for 
the  safety  of  that  ark.  And  so  now,  friends,  God  is  not 
only. in  the  church,  the  Lord  of  the  church;  but  he  is 
outside  the  chursh,  the  Lord  of  the  wind,  the  storm,  and 
hurricane,  the  revolution,  and  the  tempest;  and  he  will 
restrain  man's  wrath,  and  he  will  make  the  remainder 
of  that  wratli  to  praise  and  magnify  himself.  Never, 
then,  let  us  forget,  that,  while  God   is   in   the   midst  of 


ARARAT.  243 

US,  to  bless  us  and  to  teach  us,  and  to  protect  us,  that 
he  is  outside  also ;  that  he  has  not  given  the  world 
up  to  this  or  that  chance  regulation,  but  that  he  is  still 
superintending  it,  and  causing  all  things  outside  the  ark  to 
keep  it  on  its  way,  and  all  things  to  prepare  for  that  grand 
festival,  when  the  marriage  of  the  Lamb  shall  have  come, 
and  the  bride  shall  have  made  herself  ready. 

And,  in  the  next  place,  as  the  time  draws  near,  God  will 
multiply  signs  of  deliverance.  The  nearer  that  Noah  was 
to  Ararat,  the  more  the  signs  multiplied  that  he  was  so. 
He  sent  out  the  raven  —  it  left  him.  He  sent  out  the  dove, 
and  it  returned ;  and  again  he  sent  it  out,  and  it  returned 
with  an  olive-branch  in  its  mouth ;  and  his  mind  thus  grew 
in  certainty,  that  the  waters  were  subsiding,  just  in  propor- 
tion as  they  subsided.  Even  so,  as  the  time  of  our  deliver- 
ance draws  near,  God  will  give  signs  to  his  people  that  it  is 
so,  in  the  increased  expectancy  that  rises  like  a  sea  of  peace 
within  them ;  in  the  joyous  hopes  that  steal  like  lights  into 
the  chambers  of  the  soul,  kindled  from  heavenly  altars ;  in 
the  sea  of  communion  and  reconciliation  with  God ;  in  the 
growing  intensity  of  their  looking  for  Him  who  will  come 
the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation ;  and  in  the  con- 
solidating spiritual  interests,  and  the  marshalling  separate 
forces  for  that  great  day  of  trial,  which  the  world  may 
laugh  at,  but  which  is  unmistakably  prophesied  in  his  word. 
And  all  things  are  mustering  —  Romanism  for  its  last  battle 
—  all  its  scattered  powers  consolidating ;  and  the  true  peo- 
ple of  God  also  are  consolidating  their  forces  —  all  that  love 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  thinking  more  of  the  grand  truths  on 
which  they  agree,  and  thinking  less  of  the  minor  discrepan- 
cies about  which  they  differ.  And  when  that  last  conflict 
comes,  —  a  conflict  for  which  it  becomes  us  all  to  be  ready ; 
every  man  being  ready  to  give  a  reason  for  the  faith  that  is 
in  him,  and  willing  and  waiting  to  suffer  and  to  sacrifice  in 


244  THE    CnURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

defence  of  tliat  faith,  —  we  know  what  the  issue  will  be ; 
there,  as  in  every  other  issue,  there  is  no  doubt  of  the  ulti- 
mate victory.  There  is  no  risk  of  the  ascendency  of  false- 
hood and  superstition.  I  believe  that  real  religion,  where 
it  does  not  spread  visibly  to  the  eye,  is  striking  its  roots 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  individual  hearts;  the  nearer 
that  crisis  comes  which  we  all  anticipate,  the  more  decided 
will  men  be  for  God  their  only  ally  above,  his  truth  their 
only  life  below ;  and  ready,  having  a  martyr's  spirit,  to  die, 
if  needs  be,  a  martyr's  death  for  Christ's  sake. 

In  the  last  place,  the  ark  was  not  Noah's  home.  It  was 
not  his  rest.  He  took  it  as  a  temporary  dwelling-place,  for 
a  temporary  purppse.  He  longed  for  the  rest  to  which  it 
was  to  conduct  him.  This  is  not  our  rest  —  let  us  never 
imagine,  that  this  world  is  any  more  the  resting-place  to  us, 
than  the  battle  field  is  to  the  soldier,  or  the  deck  upon  the 
tempest-tossed  sea  is  to  the  sailor.  This  is  not  our  rest ;  we 
must  not  settle  down  in  it  as  if  it  were ;  we  must  not  work 
for  it  as  if  it  were  the  ultimate  and  the  grand  thing :  we 
must  merely  pass  through  it,  gathering  the  incidental  flower, 
while  we  thank  the  God  who  gives  that  flower  its  beauty 
and  its  perfume ;  but  not  rest  there,  as  if  it  were  the  final 
home  of  the  people  of  God.  Our  hearts  and  our  trust 
must  be  beyond  the  sky  —  our  home  is  where  Christ  is,  and 
it  will  be  when  Christ  comes,  and  nowhere  else. 

As  sure  as  God  kept  Noah  for  Ararat,  to  enter  upon  a 
world  that  he  had  again  to  water  with  his  tears,  and  to  fer- 
tilize with  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  so  sure  God  will  keep  us 
for  the  better  rest,  the  everlasting  hills  of  the  heavenly 
Jerusalem.  We  are  kept,  says  the  apostle,  by  faith  unto 
salvation,  ready  to  be  revealed  in  the  last  time  ;  and  God's 
blessing  upon  the  new  earth,  after  its  baptism  by  fire,  will 
be  a  far  richer  blessing  than  that  which  was  pronounced, 
upon  the  old  world  after  its  baptism  by  water.     His  former 


ARARAT.  245 

blessing  was  that  he  would  not  curse  it  any  more,  that 
"seed-time  and  harvest,  and  cold  and  heat,  and  summer 
and  winter,  and  day  and  night,  shall  not  cease ; "  that  he 
would  not  deluge  it  again  with  another  flood  of  waters. 
But  his  blessing  upon  the  new  world,  which  comes  forth 
under  the  new  Genesis,  is  thus  unfolded :  "  I  saw  no  temple 
therein,  the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  man,  and  he  shall 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes ;  and  there  shall  be  no 
more  death,  nor  sorrow,  nor  crying,  nor  shall  there  be  any 
more  pain,  for  the  former  things  are  passed  away."  Beauti- 
ful prospect !  this  life  of  ours  is  the  dream,  that  future  is  the 
reality.  Let  us  sit  loose  to  things  that  perish  in  the  using ; 
let  us  set  our  hearts  and  affections  upon  things  that  endure 
for  ever  and  for  ever.  Ye  that  tremble,  "Be  still,  and 
know  that  I  am  God."  Take  with  you  into  1853,  which 
may  be  a  year  of  storm,  convulsion,  cataract,  and  trouble, 
this  magnificent  hymn,  and  may  the  Spirit  of  God  help 
you  to  realize  it :  "  God  is  our  refuge  and  our  strength,  a 
very  present  help  in  trouble ;  therefore  will  we  not  fear, 
though  the  earth  be  moved,  and  though  the  mountains  in 
this  year  be  carried  into  the  sea ;  though  the  waters  thereof 
should  roar  and  be  troubled,  though  the  mountains  shake 
with  the  swelling  thereof:  for  there  is  this  year,  as  there 
has  been  in  past  years,  a  river,  the  streams  of  which  shall 
make  glad  the  city  of  our  God,  the  holy  place  of  the  taber- 
nacles of  the  Most  High ;  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her,  she 
shall  not  be  moved;  God  shall  help  her,  and  that  right 
early.  The  heathen  raged,  the  kingdoms  were  moved ;  he 
uttered  his  voice,  the  earth  melted:  the  Lord  of  hosts,  is 
with  us,  the  C  od  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge.  Be  still,  and 
know  that  I  am  i  od ;  I  will  be  exalted  among  the  heathen, 
I  will  be  exalted  in  the  earth.  The  Lord  of  hosts  is  with 
us,  the  God  of  Jacob  is  our  refuge." 
21* 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


THE   RAINBOW. 

"  Far  Tip  the  blue  sky  a  rainbow  unrolled 
Its  soft  tinted  pinions  of  purple  and  gold ; 
It  was  bom  in  a  moment,  yet  quick  as  its  birth 
It  had  stretched  to  the  utmost  ends  of  the  earth; 
And,  fair  as  an  angel,  it  floated  as  free, 
With  a  wing  on  the  earth  and  a  wing  on  the  sea." 

"  And  I  will  establish  my  covenant  with  you ;  neither  shall  all  flesh  be  cut 
off"  any  more  by  the  waters  of  a  flood ;  neither  shall  there  any  more 
be  a  flood  to  destroy  the  earth.  And  God  said.  This  is  the  token  of  the 
covenant  which  I  make  between  me  and  you  and  every  living  creature 
that  is  with  you,  for  perpetual  generations :  I  do  set  my  bow  in  the 
""  cloud,  and  it  shall  be  for  a  token  of  a  covenant  between  me  and  the 
earth.  And  it  shall  come  to  pass,  when  I  bring  a  cloud  over  the  earth, 
that  the  bow  shall  be  seen  in  the  cloud :  and  I  will  remember  my  cov- 
enant, which  is  between  me  and  you  and  every  living  creature  of  all 
flesh ;  and  the  waters  shall  no  more  become  a  flood  to  destroy  all  flesh. 
And  the  bow  shall  be  in  the  cloud ;  and  I  will  look  upon  it,  that  I  may 
remember  the  everlasting  covenant  between  God  and  every  living 
creature  of  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth.  And  God  said  unto  Noah, 
This  is  the  token  of  the  covenant,  which  I  have  established  between 
me  and  all  flesh  that  is  upon  the  earth."  —  Gkk.  ix.  11-17. 

How  interesting  to  us  all  is  the  fact,  that  that  bow  which 
spans  the  clouds  so  beautifully  amid  the  shower  and  the 
sunshine,  has  been  looked  upon  by  Abraham,  by  Noah,  by 
Shem,  by  Japheth,  by  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and  Jacob ;  by 
all  the  world's  grey  fathers ;  by  apostles,  evangelists,  saints, 
and  martyrs,  until  the  year  that  now  is.     There  is  some- 


THE   KAINBOW.  247 

thing  striking  in  the  lasting  nature  of  the  institutions  of 
God,  and  not  less  striking  when  contrasted  with  the  evanes- 
cence of  the  generations  —  the  successive  generations  of 
man.  The  expression  "I  do  set  my  bow  in  the  cloud," 
does  not  mean  that  the  bow  was  created  or  instituted  then 
as  a  thing ;  but  that  it  was  appointed,  or  selected,  or  estab- 
lished then  as  a  symbol  and  a  memorial  to  all  generations. 
Some  think  that  it  was  then  created,  and  if  so,  that  there 
was  no  rain  previous  to  the  Flood,  because  none  seems  to 
have  been  needed;  and  no  doubt  a  vast  physical  change 
has  taken  place  in  the  air,  the  earth,  the  structure  and  the 
constitution  of  our  globe  since  that  era ;  but  this  opinion 
appears  to  me  to  be  the  least  probable  explanation;  at 
all  events,  it  is  not  necessary.  The  words  are  not,  "I 
create  the  bow  now  for  the  first  time,"  but  "  I  appoint  or 
constitute  the  existing  bow  that  spans  the  cloud,  to  be  a 
token  of  my  covenant  between  me  and  you  to  all  genera- 
tions." 

This  rainbow,  which  so  many  have  looked  on,  has  been 
the  theme  of  poets,  the  admiration  of  man  from  age  to  age ; 
ever  fresh,  ever  beautiful,  never  wasting  or  waning,  like  all 
God's  grand  creations,  by  the  lapse  of  centuries ;  and  some- 
times a  poet  expresses  an  idea,  indeed  it  is  the  function  of 
the  great  poet  to  do  so,  more  fully  and  beautifully  than  the 
ordinary  expositor  can ;  and  therefore  I  read  that  beautiful 
passage  from  the  ancient  poet,  Vaughan,  who  wrote  in  1691, 
where  he  says :  — 

"  How  bright  wert  thou,  when  Shem's  admiring  eye 
Thy  burnished  flaming  arch  did  first  descry ; 
When  Terah,  Nahor,  Haran,  Abram,  Lot, 
The  youthful  world's  grey  fathers  in  one  knot, 
Did  with  attentive  looks  watch  every  hour 
For  thy  new  light,  and  trembled  at  each  shower! 
When  thou  dost  shine,  darkness  looks  white  and  fair; 
Forms  tm-n  to  music,  clouds  to  smiles  and  air. 


THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

Bright  pledge  of  peace  and  sunshine,  the  sure  tie 
Of  thy  Lord's  hand,  the  object  of  his  eye. 
When  I  behold  thee,  though  my  light  be  dim, 
Distinct  and  low,  I  can  in  them  see  Him 
Who  looks  upon  thee  from  his  glorious  throne, 
And  minds  the  covenant  'twixt  all  and  one." 


Or,  as  it  is  expressed  by  Campbell,  in  language  more 
chaste  and  beautiful,  if  it  is  possible,  and  familiar  to  most 
of  you :  — 

"  Triumphal  arch,  that  fills  the  sky 
When  storms  prepare  to  part, 
I  ask  not  proud  philosophy 
To  teach  me  what  thou  art. 


"  When  o'er  the  green,  undeluged  earth, 
Heaven's  covenant  thou  didst  shine. 
How  came  the  world's  grey  fathers  forth 
To  watch  thy  sacred  sign ! 

"  How  glorious  is  thy  girdle  cast 
O'er  mountain,  tower,  and  town; 
Or,  mirrored  in  the  ocean  vast,^ 
A  thousand  fathoms  down. 


"  As  fresh  in  yon  horizon  dark. 
As  young  thy  beauties  seem. 
As  when  the  eagle  from  the  ark 
First  sported  in  thy  beam. 

"  For  faithful  to  His  sacred  page, 
God  still  rebuilds  thy  span. 
Nor  lets  the  type  grow  pale  with  age, 
That  first  spoke  peace  to  man." 


So  beautifully  and  truly  has  Campbell  celebrated  the  same 
lasting  sign. 

It  may  be  asked,  why  this  great  necessity  for  such  a  sign 


THE   RAINBOW.  249 

suspended  in  the  sky  to  Noah  and  his  family  ?  We  may 
see  that  every  thing  in  the  chapter  is  a  prescription  against 
the  fears,  and  the  discouragements,  and  the  despair  of  man. 
God  gave  him  a  prescription  against  the  beasts  of  the  field, 
he  gave  him  a  sense  of  safety  against  the  violence  of  man, 
and  now  he  furnished  him  with  a  pledge  that  such  a  convul- 
sion as  that  which  had  swept  the  earth,  and  borne  the  ark 
to  Ararat,  should  not  again  occur  in  the  history  of  mankind. 
One  can  easily  understand  that,  without  this  sign  suspended 
in  the  cloud  for  reminding  Noah  and  his  family  of  the 
pledge  and  promise  of  his  God,  every  careering  cloud  must 
have  frightened  them.  As  they  saw  the  lightnings  gleam,  ^ 
and  heard  the  thunders  roar,  and  saw  the  shower  begin  to 
fall  heavily,  they  must  have  been  tempted  to  say,  here  is 
another  deluge  coming  upon  us  —  we  need  not  sow  the  seed 
in  the  spring,  for  we  shall  be  all  swept  away  before  the 
autumn  ;  we  need  not  build  houses,  for  they  will  be  carried 
away  by  the  overwhelming  flood.  In  short,  all  civilization, 
all  progress,  all  domestic  and  social  being,  would  have  been, 
if  not  entirely  prevented,  at  least  nipped  in  its  very  com- 
mencement, unless  God  had  given  to  man  some  great  pledge 
on  a  great  scale,  and  accompanied  by  some  visible  mark, 
that  such  a  catastrophe  should  not  happen  to  the  world 
again.  And  hence,  when  Noah  recollected  God's  word,  and 
saw  span  the  sky  the  beautiful  bow  that  was  the  form  and 
the  representation  of  it,  —  as  he  saw  the  black  cloud  hide 
the  sun,  —  as  he  heard  the  rain  drops  begin  to  patter  upon 
his  roof,  —  as  he  listened  to  the  thunder  reverberating  along 
the  mountain  gorges,  his  heart  did  not  faint,  nor  did  his 
courage  droop,  but  he  felt,  let  nature  discharge  her  terrible 
artillery,  let  the  sky  be  clothed  with  sackcloth,  let  the  red 
lightnings  flash,  and  the  whole  horizon  be  lightened  up  with 
their  splendors,  I  have  a  protection  in  the  simple  promise 
of  my  God,  and  I  know  that  that  promise  will  stand  good 


250  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

to  all  generations,  by  the  bow  that  is  in  the  sky ;  that  makes 
me  feel  perfect  peace,  sure  that  the  word  of  the  Creator  is 
stronger  than  the  forces  of  all  creation  combined  together. 

I  explained  in  my  last  lecture  that  Noah  offered  a  sacri- 
fice when  he  came  forth  from  the  ark,  and  that  that  sacrifice 
was  partly  eucharistic,  pai'tly  expiatory.  Our  sacrifice,  I 
showed,  has  been  offered.  The  rainbow  comes  after  Noah's 
sacrifice;  our  rainbow,  whatever  it  be,  comes  after  ours. 
We  have  a  sacrifice  which  we  have  not  to  offer  as  Noah 
had,  "for  this  Christ  did  once  for  all."  The  difference 
between  us  and  Noah  is  just  this,  that  he,  through  a  pro- 
spective faith,  accompanied  with  the  slaughter  of  an  inno- 
cent creature,  expressed  his  confidence  in  "  the  Lamb  slain 
from  the  foundation  of  the  world  "  —  we,  in  the  exercise  of 
a  retrospective  faith,  without  the  painful  and  sanguinary 
accompaniment  of  a  creature  slain,  rest  in  that  sacrifice 
which  was  made  once  for  all,  and  the  last  words  of  which 
still  echo  along  the  centuries,  "It  is  finished."  There  is 
now  no  more  offering  for  sin ;  by  that  sacrifice  the  poison  of 
sin  was  neutralized,  our  transgressions  can  be  forgiven,  our 
iniquities  completely  and  fully  put  away ;  and  we  know  that 
there  is  no  condemnation  to  us,  just  as  certainly  as  Noah 
knew  there  was  no  second  Flood  to  overflow  the  world. 
Noah  reached  the  point  from  God's  information  that  there 
would  be  no  second  Flood,  and  the  rainbow  was  the  sign  of 
it;  and  we  have  reached  the  conclusion  from  God's  in- 
formation, that  there  will  be  no  second  wrath  to  us  who  are 
in  Christ  Jesus,  and  the  memorial  of  it  is  —  what  ?  "What 
is  our  rainbow  ?  It  is  the  Bible  that  proclaims  this  truth  — 
the  Lord's  supper  that  is  its  seal  —  the  sign  and  the  stand- 
ing memorial  of  it.  It  is  the  Bible  that  proclaims  this 
truth.  The  Bible  does  not  make  it  true,  any  more  than  the 
rainbow  made  God's  word  to  Noah  true.  It  merely  records 
the  truth.    Were  the  Bible  annihilated,  it  would  be  no  less 


>  THE   RAINBOW.  251 

true  that  Christ  died  for  our  sins.  The  Bible,  therefore,  is 
not  what  makes  it  true,  but  it  is  that  blessed  book  that 
records  what  is  true,  and  has  been  previously  accomplished, 
and  never  in  its  facts  and  its  issues  can  pass  away.  As  long, 
therefore,  as  the  pages  of  the  Bible  are  legible  to.  us,  so  long 
as  we  hear  from  the  pulpit,  or  can  read  these  truths  as  they 
gleam  from  the  sacred  page,  we  have  the  sign,  the  memo- 
rial, the  token  of  God's  covenant  with  us  in  Christ  Jesus, 
that  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them  that  are  in  him,  that 
justified  by  faith  we  have  peace  with  God  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  The  Bible  therefore  is  the  confirmatory 
sign  that  it  is  so ;  it  is  not  for  God's  sake,  but  for  ours  — 
not  because  he  needs  it,  but  because  our  sense  of  safety 
demands  it ;  and  the  result  of  having  such  a  document  as 
the  Bible  still  lasting,  is  not  that  our  safety  is  thereby  made 
more  perfect,  but  that  our  sense  of  that  safety  is  thereby 
more  deeply  impressed.  And  so  with  the  Lord's  supper  — 
as  long  as  a  communion  table  is  spread  on  earth,  we  have  a 
sign  of  the  covenant  before  us ;  and  it  has  been  spread  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  will  be  spread  from  generation 
to  generation,  still  testifying  to  man,  that  Christ  our  passover 
is^  sacrificed  for  us,  and  there  is  no  condemnation  to  them 
that  are  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  may  be  said.  If  we  have  the 
word  of  God  in  any  shape,  what  is  the  use  of  a  sign  ?  I 
answer,  scepticism  would  do  without  any  sign,  or  sacrament, 
or  symbol  —  superstition  would  make  a  god  of  it  and  wor- 
ship it  —  enlightened  Christianity  looks  at  the  sign,  but 
passes  through  the  sign  and  rests  upon  the  substance  — 
Christ,  and  him  crucified. 

This  covenant  of  which  the  rainbow  was  the  sign,  was 
made  with  Noah  irrespective  of  any  worthiness  m  him.  It 
is  a  most  touching  statement  on  the  part  of  God,  "  I  will 
not  again  curse  the  ground  any  more  for  man's  sake  ;  though 
the  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil  from  his  youth ; "  and 


252  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD.  ^ 

therefore  the  statement  implies  that  this  covenant  was  made 
with  Noah,  not  because  there  was  any  excellence  that  he 
obtained  from  man's  nature,  but  in  spite  of  the  accumulating 
demerits  that  were  still  crowded  into  man's  conduct.  Even 
so,  that  covenant  made  with  us  in  Christ  is  not  the  conse- 
quence of  any  excellence  in  us,  but,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  in 
spite  of  the  errors,  demerits,  and  sins  that  are  in  us.  It  is  to 
man  as  a  sinner  and  in  spite  of  his  sins  that  the  gospel 
comes,  —  that  salvation  is  made,  —  that  a  full,  free,  com- 
plete pardon  is  sealed  and  signed  and  made  over  to  him. 
In  other  words,  "  we  are  saved  by  grace,"  is  as  old  as  the 
days  of  Noah.  It  is  not  a  mere  theological  dogma  .ibr 
divines  to  quarrel  about,  but  it  is  a  great,  all-pervading,  and 
precious  reality ;  saved  in  spite  of  our  sins ;  saved  not  be- 
cause of  our  virtues,  but  in  the  face  of  all  we  merited,  and 
in  the  face  and  in  spite  of  all  that  we  have  demerited  — 
"  God  so  loved  us  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  on  him  might  not  perish,  but  have 
eternal  life."  Therefore  when  we  apply  to  that  God  for 
pardon,  when  with  the  voice  of  prayer  we  draw  near  to  his 
footstool,  may  we  recollect  that  our  sense  of  sin  is  not  to 
deter  us  from  going  with  boldness  to  him,  who  has  promised 
to  forgive  it.  He  admits  and  contemplates  the  element  of 
our  sins  in  all  his  provisions  and  arrangements ;  his  is  not  a 
dispensation  to  men  who  have  no  sins,  but  a  dispensation  of 
mercy  to  men  who  are  stained  and  polluted  by  sin,  in  spite 
of  and  notwithstanding  their  manifold  and  innumerable  sins. 
"  We  are  saved  by  grace,"  means  that  we  are  saved  in  spite 
of  what  we  are.  There  is  not  a  flower  that  will  bloom  in 
Paradise  regained ;  there  is  not  an  excellency  or  glory  that 
will  adorn  that  city  that  hath  foundations ;  there  is  not  a 
joji  into  which  we  shall  enter,  or  which  will  enter  into  us, 
which  we  shall  be  able  to  count  as  gained  by  us,  purchased 
by  us,  or  worked  for  by  us  in  any  shape.     "  By  works  "  is 


THE   RAINBOW.  253 

the  way  to  everlasting  ruin,  and  many  there  are  who  go 
thus ;  by  grace  is  the  way  to  everlasting  glory,  and,  alas,  in 
the  existing  generation  it  is  still  the  few  that  find  it.  "After 
that  the  loving-kindness  of  God  our  Saviour  to  man  ap- 
peared, not  by  works  of  righteousness  that  we  have  done, 
but  according  to  his  mercy  he  saved  us  by  the  washing  of 
regeneration  and  renewing  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

Let  me  notice  another  peculiarity  in  this  covenant  of 
which  this  rainbow  is  the  token,  —  that  the  covenant  made 
with  Noah  was  as  immutable  and  permanent  as  the  sign 
that  God  hung  up  in  the  sky  in  order  to  mark  it.  Some- 
Avhere  about  4,000  years  have  elapsed  since  the  Deluge; 
the  bow  still  spreads  itself  on  the  bosom  of  the  clouds,  and 
no  second  deluge  has  overflowed  the  earth.  Seed-time 
appears,  harvest-home  is  still  celebrated ;  and  thus  we  see 
the  truth  and  the  immutability  of  the  covenant  and  the 
covenant  memorial  of  God.  And  that  better  covenant  that 
he  has  made  with  us  is  an  everlasting  covenant,  in  all  things 
well  ordered  and  sure,  confirmed  by  his  word  and  his  oath, 
that  by  two  immutable  things  we  might  have  strong  hope. 
God  gives  a  word  and  an  oath  —  not  because  it  is  necessary 
to  him,  but  in  condescension  to  the  weakness  of  man.  The 
whole  economy  of  the  gospel  is  not  a  system  of  types,  sacri- 
fices, shadows,  ceremonies,  oaths,  and  promises,  because  God 
needed  them ;  but  they  are  expressions  and  proofs  of  con- 
descending kindness  on  God's  part,  trying  by  every  possible 
moral  persuasion  to  convince  us  that  he  longs  and  loves  to 
save  us  and  to  make  us  happy,  as  he  now  makes  us  holy,  for 
ever  and  ever.  The  inherent  suspicion  in  the  natural  man's 
heart  is,  that  God  lies  in  wait  to  destroy  him.  The  first 
triumphant  result  of  grace  in  man's  heart  is,  the  conviction 
that  God  delights  to  bless  and  make  him  happy.  I  could 
easily  convince  all  the  population  of  London  that  God  is 
watching  for  their  destruction  like  a  tiger  watching  for  his 
22 


254  THE   CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

prey  —  that  would  be  easy  enough ;  but  the  great  difficulty 
to  overcome,  f«r  which  types  are  suspended  in  the  sky, 
sacraments  continued  upon  earth,  promises  and  oaths  are 
echoing  in  the  sacred  volume,  is  to  persuade  men  that  God 
has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  a  sinner,  that  he  dehghts  in 
mercy  —  that  he  longs  to  save  —  that  he  loves,  not  hates  — 
would  make  happy  —  not  make  miserable.  God's  everlast- 
ing covenant  is  in  all  things  ordered  and  sure  —  confirmed 
by  an  oath  and  a  promise.  And  to  this  covenant  he  beauti- 
fully alludes  when  he  says,  "  In  a  little  wrath  I  hid  my  face 
from  thee  for  a  moment,  but  with  everlasting  kindness  "  — 
contrasting  the  little  wrath  with  everlasting  kindness  — 
"  will  I  have  mercy  on  thee,  saith  the  Lord  thy  Redeemer. 
For  this  is  as  the  waters  of  Noah  unto  me ;  for  as  I  have 
sworn  that  the  waters  of  Noah  should  no  more  go  over  the 
earth,  so  have  I  sworn  that  I  would  not  be  wroth  with  thee, 
nor  rebuke  thee.  For  the  mountains  shall  depart,  and  the 
hills  be  removed,"  —  as  if  it  were  by  another  deluge,  or 
rather  by  the  outbursting  of  that  elemental  fire  which  is  the 
world's  second  baptism,  —  "  but  my  kindness  shall  not  de- 
part from  thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant  of  my  peace  be 
removed,  saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee."  And 
regarding  us  as  still  in  the  ark,  and  still  upon  the  floods,  he 
says,  "  Oh  thou  afflicted,  tossed  with  tempest  and  not  com- 
forted, behold,  I  will  lay  thy  stones  with  fair  colors,  and  lay 
thy  foundations  with  sapphires.  And  I  will  make  thy  win- 
dows of  agates."  I  stated  the  Rabbinical  tradition,  that  the 
ark  had  one  window,  as  the  Bible  states,  but  that  that  win- 
dow was  one  vast  precious  stone,  and  that  stone  an  agate. 
"And  thy  gates  of  carbuncles,  and  all  thy  borders  of  pleas- 
ant stones.  And  all  thy  children  shall  be  taught  of  the 
Lord ;  and  great  shall  be  the  peace  of  thy  children." 

We  have  as  great  a  warrant  in  believing  this,  as  Noah 
ever  had  in  believing  that  there  would  not  be  another  Flood. 


THE  RAINBOW.  255 

"We  have  as  great  warrant  in  believing  God's  everlasting 
kindness  and  justice  and  tender  mercy,  immutable  as  bis 
being,  as  ever  Noah  had  in  believing  that  there  should  not 
be  a  second  Flood ;  and  returning  Sabbaths  are  to  us  sure 
and  eloquent  signs,  as  the  rainbow  ever  was  to  Noah  that  a 
second  Flood  should  not  overflow  the  earth.  Heaven  and 
earth  may  pass  away,  but  one  word  shall  not  pass  away  till 
all  things  be  fulfilled.  How  can  we  doubt  it  ?  Has  any 
prophecy  of  the  past  failed.'^  The  sceptic  cannot  lay  a 
finger  on  a  single  prediction  that  was  to  take  place  before 
now,  and  show  that  it  has  failed ;  while  the  Christian  can 
lay  his  hands  on  a  thousand  that  have  been  fully  and  glo- 
riously fulfilled.  I  have  as  complete  conviction  that  God's 
loving-kindness  shall  not  depart  from  his  own,  nor  God's 
overshadowing  mercy  be  withdrawn  from  them,  till  heaven 
and  earth  pass  away,  as  I  have,  or  as  Noah  ever  could  have 
had,  that  a  second  Flood  shall  not  overflow  the  earth.  The 
least  promise  of  God  is  surer  and  more  lasting  than  the 
greatest  work  of  man.  Towers  may  fall,  nations  pass  away, 
dynasties  be  overwhelmed,  war  sweep  the  wide  world  with 
its  scourge,  and  all  things  that  are  visible  be  broken  up  and 
shattered  and  destroyed ;  but  not  one  jot  shall  pass  away 
from  God's  word,  till  all  shall  be  fulfilled.  What  a  glorious 
foundation !  What  a  happy  man  should  a  Christian  be ! 
What  reasons  for  repose  amid  conflict !  What  a  foundation 
for  rest  amid  tilting  thrones  and  fearing  populations  has  a 
Christian  in  this,  that  God  is  his,  and  that  he  is  God's,  and 
that  Omnipresence  watches  him,  Omnipotence  defends  him, 
and  love  and  grace  and  mercy  constantly  follow  him. 

If  there  were  no  sun,  I  need  not  observe,  because  it  must 
occur  to  all,  there  could  be  no  rainbow.  It  is  impossible 
that  rain  drops  could  make  a  rainbow  without  light ;  if  there 
were  no  sun  in  the  firmament,  there  could  be  no  rainbow 
overspreading  the  black  cloud.    And  it  is  no  less  true, 


256  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

if  there  were  no  Sun  of  righteousness,  there  could  be  no 
covenant  or  covenant  memorial ;  for  as  truly  as  there  can 
be  no  rainbow  in  the  sky  without  a  sun  shining  on  it,  so 
truly  there  can  be  no  redemption  of  a  sinner  without  a 
Redeemer  in  the  heavens  to  bestow  it.  Christ  is  to  redemp- 
tion what  the  sun  is  to  the  whole  solar  system,  and  more  — 
he  is  not  a  mere  accessary  in  the  system,  he  is  its  essence— 
he  is  not  a  mere  ornamental  detail,  but  his  name  is  exalted 
above  every  name;  he  is  the  substance,  the  pith,  and 
essence  of  all  Christianity.  Christianity  is  Christ  unfolded, 
and  Christ  is  Christianity  personated  in  himself.  The 
whole  of  Christianity  itself,  with  all  its  institutions,  is 
merely  a  medium  for  conveying  the  light  of  this  Sun  of 
righteousness  to  us,  and  conveying  this  light  in  its  purest, 
softest,  and  most  beautiful  effects.  What  are  parables,  and 
miracles,  and  types,  and  promises,  and  doctrines,  and  invita- 
tions, but  the  rays  of  pure  light  refracted  and  reflected  from 
earthly  objects,  that  We  may  look  upon  them,  and  the  eye 
not  suffer  by  excess  of  brightness.  The  whole  facts  of 
Christianity  —  the  manger,  the  cross,  the  crown  of  thorns, 
the  grave,  the  resurrection  —  are  objects  on  which  the  rays 
of  the  Sun  of  righteousness  impinge,  and  from  which  they 
are  reflected  and  refracted  in  all  the  beautiful  colors  of  the 
rainbow.  God's  love  is  the  pure  light  of  heaven ;  God's 
mercy  is  that  light  softened  and  refracted  in  its  transmission 
through  Christ,  and  reaching  sinners  —  the  chiefest  of  sin- 
ners. Glory  is  what  no  man  hath  seen  nor  can  see,  in 
which  God  dwells  as  in  light  inaccessible  and  full  of  glory ; 
but  grace  is  glory  transmitted  through  Christ,  the  medium, 
and  thus  subdued  it  is  visible  and  welcome  to  us  —  the  first 
dawn  of  that  day  of  glory  into  which  we  shall  soon  enter. 
Thus,  without  a  sun  there  could  be  no  rainbow,  without  a 
Redeemer  there  could  be  no  redemption,  without  Christ 
there  is  no  Christianity,  without  a  Saviour  there  is  no 
salvation. 


THE   RAINBOW.  257 

Not  only  is  tlie  sun  requisite  to  constitute  that  rainbow, 
but  also  a  dark  cloud  in  the  sky,  without  which  no  sun 
shining  through  the  shower  drop  could  possibly  make  the 
rainbow  visible.  If  there  had  been  no  Fall,  there  could  be 
no  rainbow ;  if  there  had  been  no  dark  cloud  of  sin,  there 
would  not  have  been,  because  there  would  have  been  no 
necessity  for  the  rainbow,  the  covenant  memorial  of  mercy 
visible  to  mankind;  but  where  sin  hath  abounded,  grace 
doth  much  more  abound,  and  what  we  look  upon  as  the 
most  unlikely,  God  has  made  the  background  from  which 
he  throws  up  in  richest  splendor  his  own  glory  and  sove- 
reignty. Have  you  not  noticed,  as  you  have  sometimes 
gazed  into  the  distant  west,  how  the  banks  of  black  clouds 
that  threatened  to  overshadow  the  sun  in  his  meridian 
throne,  have  sometimes  formed  themselves  into  a  vermilion 
and  golden  couch,  on  which  the  king  of  day  seems  to  retire 
to  rest ;  and  thus  that  which  threatens  to  obscure  him  only 
making  him  more  glorious  as  he  takes  his  western  exodus. 
So  has  it  been  with  man's  Fall,  that  which  was  meant  by 
Satan  and  which  would  seem  to  tend  to  hide  the  glory 
of  the  Great  King,  is  overruled  by  God's  great  mercy  to 
bring  greater  glory  to  himself  and  to  give  greater  happiness 
to  mankind.  And  if  we  wish  to  see  God  most  glorious,  it 
is  as  he  appears  amidst  the  exhalations  of  sin,  out  of  evil 
educing  good,  out  of  the  Fall  evolving  a  more  glorious 
recovery,  where  he  seems  robed  with  the  richest  splendor, 
gathering  to  himself  the  brightest  glory,  when  he  gathers 
within  his  gracious  bosom  the  greatest  number  of  pardoned 
and  forgiven  and  sanctified  sinners. 

This  dispensation  has  emphatically  a  rainbow  character. 
What  is  the  rainbow  ?  I  have  shown  that  if  there  be  no 
sun  there  can  be  no  rainbow ;  and  if  no  black  cloud  there 
can  be  no  rainbow.  The  rainbow  is  therefore  the  mixture 
of  both  light  and  darkness.  In  hell  there  is  darkness 
22* 


258  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

without  light,  the  black  and  portentous  clouds  without  one 
single  relieving  ray,  in  other  words,  without  grace.  In 
heaven  there  is  the  pure  light,  the  sky  without  one  cloud, 
the  light  without  one  shadow,  the  pure  glory  without  a 
particle  of  guilt.  There  is  no  refraction  there.  But  on 
earth  there  is  the  mixture  of  the  two  —  here  there  are 
rolling  over  us  the  dark  and  portentous  clouds  in  which  the 
lightnings  sleep  and  the  thunders  find  their  lair  for  a 
season ;  and  when  we  dread  lest  the  one  shall  be  launched, 
and  the  other  rush  forth  on  the  world,  we  look 'up  and 
we  see  athwart  the  bosom  of  the  blackest  cloud  the  beau- 
tifully defined  rainbow  —  mercy  and  truth  which  have  met 
together,  and  righteousness  and  peace  which  have  kissed 
each  other.  Heaven  is  the  pure  light  without  any  darkness 
at  all ;  hell  is  the  dense  darkness  without  any  light  at  all ; 
in  this  world  the  two  are  in  collision  —  light  and  darkness, 
holiness  and  sin,  God  and  Satan,  truth  and  error ;  and  over 
the  mingled  mass  the  rainbow.  The  issue  therefore  is  as 
certain  as  the  throne,  and  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise 
of  victory,  as  the  pledges  that  God  has  so  visibly  and  so 
graciously  given. 

Thus,  as  you  see  the  rainbow  span  the  sky,  you  may 
think  of  that  first  rainbow,  made  the  covenant  memorial  to 
Noah,  that  girded  Ararat,  and  attested  that  God's  promise, 
that  there  should  be  no  second  Flood,  will  hold  good.  But 
you  may  also  pass  from  viewing  the  sign  of  this  covenant 
to  look  at  another.  In  the  book  of  Revelation  there  is 
described  a  rainbow  about  the  throne  —  the  continuity  of 
the  two  covenants  being  thus  set  forth.  And  whenever, 
therefore,  you  see  that  rainbow  in  the  sky,  you  see  there  a 
pledge  of  God's  loving-kindness,  a  memorial  of  his  inex- 
haustible mercy,  that  carries  you  back  to  what  he  said  at 
the  beginning,  and  that  carries  you  forward  to  what  he  will 
certainly  fulfil,  when  time  shall  close  and  eternity  begin  its 
grand  and  endless  march. 


THE    RAINBOW.  259 

Every  time  we  approach  the  communion  table,  we  cast 
our  eyes  upon  the  sign  of  that  which  is  to  be  our  everlasting 
covenant,  what  the  rainbow  was  to  the  covenant  made  with 
Noah.  God  did  not  then  create  the  rainbow,  but  conse- 
crated it  to  be  the  symbol  of  a  great  truth.  So,  Jesus  did 
not  then  create  the  bread  and  wine,  but  he  took  them, 
already  existent,  and  consecrated  them  to  be  the  symbols  of 
a  grand  and  blessed  truth.  I  fear  the  expression  sometimes 
applied  at  a  communion  table,  that  the  minister  consecrates 
the  bread  and  wine,  is  a  remnant  of  a  superstition  which  is 
fast  passing  away.  Jesus  consecrated  that  bread  and  wine 
once  for  all,  when  he  instituted  the  supper,  just  as  he  died 
once  for  all,  when  he  expired  upon  the  cross ;  and  all  that 
the  minister  does  at  that  table,  or  rather,  all  that  the  com- 
municants do  at  that  table  —  for  he  is  merely  the  president 
of  the  brethren  there,  not  a  priest  in  any  form  or  shape 
whatever  —  is  to  pray,  not  that  the  elements  may  be 
changed,  but  that  our  faith  may  be  strengthened,  our  love 
deepened,  our  devotedness  increased,  and  our  course  like  the 
shining  light  that  shineth  more  and  more  unto  the  perfect 
day.  And  just  as  the  rainbow  reminded  Noah,  not  only  of 
what  was  passed,  but  also  of  the  nature  of  the  age  that  was 
to  come,  so  the  Lord's  supper  is  to  be  to  us,  not  simply  a 
memorial  of  a  past  transaction,  but  a  pledge  also  of  a  future 
joy.  It  is  not  simply  retrospective ;  it  is  also  prospective. 
The  Lord's  supper  is  not  simply  a  feast  for  faith  to  feed 
upon,  but  a  spot  in  her  ascent  for  hope  to  rest  upon.  It  is 
not  only,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me,"  but  substantially 
also,  as  indicated  in  1  Cor.  xi.  26,  "  Do  this  in  remembrance 
of  me  till  I  come.''^  And  some  critics  think,  "  Do  this  in 
remembrance  of  me,"  might  be  justly  translated,  "  Do  this 
and  put  me  in  mind."  Just  as  the  token  of  the  bow  in  the 
cloud  was  appointed  for  God  to  look  upon,  and  thus  to  be 
put  in  mind  of  his  covenant  with  Noah  and  all  flesh ;  so, 


260  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

too,  the  Lord's  supper  puts  God  in  mind  of  his  covenant 
with  his  own,  as  it  overarches  with  its  holy  span  the  past 
and  the  future,  unites  a  Saviour  who  came  to  suffer  with  a 
Saviour  who  will  come  to  reign.  Like  the  beautiful  rain- 
bow itself,  the  Lord's  supper  rests  upon  the  cross,  and 
reminds  us  that  Christ  our  passover  was  slain  for  us;  it 
then  vaults  into  the  sky,  sweeps  across  the  ages  as  they  roll, 
and  rests  the  other  limb  of  its  arch  upon  the  diadem  of 
Jesus;  and  thus  connecting  the  past  and  the  future,  the 
sacrifice  with  its  humiliation,  and  the  crown  with  its-  glory,  it 
reminds  us  of  him  by  whose  ransom  we  are  redeemed,  of 
him  who  comes  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation  to 
them  that  look  for  him. 

And  now,  just  as  the  rainbow  was  not  the  substance  of 
the  covenant,  but  the  sign  of  it,  so  the  Lord's  supper  is  not 
the  substance  of  our  sacrifice,  but  the  sign  of  it.  The  rain- 
bow was  not  the  covenant  established  with  Noah,  though  it 
is  called  so,  but  the  sign  of  it.  The  bread  and  wine  are  not 
the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  though  they  are  called  so,  but 
the  signs  of  them.  Noah  looked  through  the  sign,  and  saw 
the  sign  giver  behind  it ;  we  look  through  the  symbol,  and 
see  the  great  sacrifice  above,  behind,  and  before  it. 

And  when  Noah  looked  upon  the  bow  in  the  cloud,  do 
you  think  he  did  so  with  dismay,  and  dread,  and  terror  ? 
Just  the  very  reverse  —  the  very  end  of  the  bow  was  to 
assure  Noah,  to  make  him  happy,  and  to  increase  his  confi- 
dence. And  the  very  end  of  the  Lord's  supper  is  to  pro- 
duce the  same  effects  on  us. 

We  may  look,  as  Christians,  upon  the  supper  of  the  Lord, 
just  as  Noah  looked  upon  the  rainbow  in  the  sky.  He 
looked  upon  the  cloud  that  was  behind  it,  in  which  the  thun- 
der slept  and  the  lightnings  crouched,  but  the  bow  was  to 
him  the  proof  that  they  could  not  touch  him.  So,  God's 
wrath  is  still  revealed  against  all  sin,  and  the  law  still  thun- 


THE  EAINBOW.  261 

ders  and  lightens  upon  Mount  Sinai;  but  between  Sinai 
and  us  is  the  communion  table,  which  is  to  us  the  sign  that 
these  fiery  judgments  cannot  touch  us.  And  therefore 
believers  come  to  that  table,  not  as  crouching  slaves  to  a 
tyrannical  master,  who  is  ready  and  waiting  to  scourge 
them ;  not  as  foes  trembling  to  the  presence  of  a  terrible 
king,  who  is  ready  and  waiting  to  destroy  them ;  but  as  chil- 
dren to  a  father,  as  the  ransomed  to  a  Redeemer ;  and  feel- 
ing that  if  there  be  one  festival  in  the  year,  it  is  a  com- 
munion Sabbath ;  and  that  if  there  ought  to  be  a  bounding 
heart  on  any  Sunday,  it  is  on  that  day  when  we  celebrate 
the  love  that  suffered  for  us,  and  look  upon  the  symbol  that 
tells  us  that  the  wrath,  like  the  waters  of  the  Deluge,  has 
passed  away,  and  that  a  new  and  joyous  sunshine  gilds  the 
valley  where  we  are  sojourners,  and  sprinkles  the  everlast- 
ing hills  with  its  first  beams,  beyond  which  our  home,  and 
our  heart,  and  our  treasure  are. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE   THREE   FOREFATHERS. 

"  What  havoc  hast  thou  made,  foul  monster,  sin! 
Greatest  and  first  of  ills !     The  fruitful  parent 
Of  woes  of  all  dimensions !     But  for  thee 
Sorrow  and  slavery  had  never  been." 

"And  Noah  awoke  from  his  wine,  and  knew  what  his  younger  son  had 
done  unto  him.  And  he  said,  Cursed  he  Canaan;  a  servant  of  ser- 
vants shall  he  be  unto  his  brethren.  And  he  said,  Blessed  he  the 
Lord  God  of  Shem;  and  Canaan  shall  be  his  servant.  God  shall 
enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem ;  and  Canaan 
shall  be  his  servant.'; — Gen.  ix.  24-27. 

NoAH  planted  a  vineyard ;  discovered  that  fermentation 
could  produce  alcohol ;  drank  of  it,  and  became  intoxicated. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  from  this,  that  ancient  wine,  as 
ancient  as  the  Flood,  was  alcoholic.  It  is  impossible  to 
escape  this  conclusion.  The  assertion  of  those  who  contend 
that  ancient  wine  had  no  alcohol  in  it,  is  not  borne  out  by 
Scripture.  Noah  was  not  condemned  for  planting  his  vine- 
yard, nor  for  fermenting  his  wine,  nor  was  he  guilty  in  that 
he  drank  wine;  his  guilt  lay  in  drinking  to  excess.  No 
judgment  or  censure  is  pronounced  upon  Noah  for  touching 
wine,  but  for  the  excess  in  which  he  indulged,  some  say 
incautiously,  but  that  I  doubt :  I  believe  he  drank  crimi- 
nally ;  and  therefore  sinned  in  the  sight  of  God.  He  awoke 
from  this  excessive  stupor,  produced  by  the  drinking  of  that 
which  he  ought  to  have  used  in  moderation,  and  he  dis- 
covered that  he  had  been  made  the  merriment  of  one  of  his 


THE    THREE   FOREFATHERS.  263 

children  about  him,  and  pronounced  the  words  prefixed  to 
this  chapter. 

We  have  here  the  three  great  parents  of  the  whole 
human  family,  Shem,  and  Ham,  or  Canaan,  and  Japheth. 
These  are  the  three  great  springs  of  the  human  race,  whose 
aboriginal  distinctions  are  more  or  less  perpetuated  to  this 
day;  so  universally  and  so  deeply  is  the  original  impress 
struck  on  the  three  great  families  that  form  the  earth's 
population,  that  we  can  still  easily  distinguish  them  by 
certain  sharp  characteristics;  the  three  races  are  the 
Asiatic,  the  African,  and  the  European.  Subdivisions  there 
unquestionably  are ;  modifications  of  caste,  complexion,  and 
feature,  unquestionably  there  are ;  but  still,  these  three 
families  are  to  this  moment  distinct.  The  American,  I 
need  not  tell  you,  is  not  a  distinct  family,  but  an  offshoot 
of  the  great  European  family,  or  the  descendants  of 
Japheth,  one  of  the  three  grey  fathers  and  founders  of  the 
human  race.  It  needs  very  little  physiological  learning  to 
teach  us,  that  the  whole  human  race  has  a  common  origin. 
There  are  moral  as  well  as  material  proofs.  We  have 
identity  of  sorrows  and  joy ;  identity  of  health  and  sick- 
ness; identity  of  fears  and  peace;  identity  of  life,  and 
identity  of  death,  to  teach  us  unmistakably  that  the  black 
skin  and  the  white  skin,  however  much  they  differ  as  to 
outward  aspect,  cover  one  common  flesh  and  blood,  and 
belong  to  one  family ;  and  are  but  the  varying  characteris- 
tics of  the  great  race  of  mankind. 

These  three,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japheth,  the  founders 
of  the  human  race,  met  together  in  the  ark,  emerged  from 
that  ark  on  the  sides  of  Ararat,  and  went  forth  from  the 
mountain  range  to  spread  the  human  family  from  it  to  the 
very  ends  of  the  habitable  globe ;  the  human  race,  in  its 
founders,  met  once  all  together  under  one  roof,  and  around 
one  altar,  and  beneath  the   overshadowing  wings  of  one 


264  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

Father ;  and  were  upheld  and  guided  together  as  one  crew 
on  the  stormy  waves  to  a  momentary  rest  on  Ararat. 
Blessed  be  God,  it  is  not  the  last  time  they  shall  meet  — 
they  shall  meet  again,  emerging  from  a  more  awful  catastro- 
phe, in  a  yet  more  glorious  ark,  to  take  possession  of  a  yet 
more  magnificent  Ararat  —  to  enter  upon  a  more  lasting 
home ;  out  of  which  all  cares  shall  be  banished ;  into  which 
all  blessings  shall  flow ;  and  from  which  we  shall  never  go 
forth  exiles  and  strangers,  like  Shem,  and  Ham,  and 
Japheth,  to  fertilize  the  soil  with  the  sweat  of -our  brow, 
and  to  water  the  earth  with  fast  flowing  tears ;  for  then 
there  will  be  no  more  sorrow,  nor  tears,  nor  sighing,  nor 
crying,  but  all  former  things  shall  have  passed  away. 

Noah  sinned,  and  yet  his  sin,  whilst  it  was  his  guilt,  was 
overruled  of  God  to  be  the  occasion  and  the  proof  of  a 
great  and  important  fact.  It  is  this  —  the  Flood  that 
washed  away  a  vast  population  from  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  did  not  wasli  out  sin  from  the  depths  of  the  human 
heart.  God  said,  before  he  let  loose  that  dread  judgment, 
"  Every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  man's  heart  is  only 
evil  continually ; "  and  God  said,  after  that  judgment  had 
done  its  mission,  "I  will  not  again  curse  the  ground  for 
man's  sake,  though  the  imagination  of  man's  heart  is  evil 
from  his  youth."  We  are  told  by  St.  Peter,  that  the  Flood 
was  to  the  antediluvians  what  baptism  is  to  us ;  and  now,  as 
that  Flood  only  cleansed  the  outer  surface  of  the  earth,  but 
did  not  cleanse  the  inner  thoughts  of  the  heart,  so  baptism 
—  for  the  parallelism  is  complete  —  cleanses  the  outer  flesh, 
but  it  does  not  purify  the  inner  heart.  Noah  emerged  from 
the  Flood  a  sinner;  Ham  stepped  forth  from  the  ark  a 
sinner ;  and  does  it  need  any  argument  of  mine  to  persuade 
any,  that  an  unregenerate  man  baptized  in  the  most  canoni- 
cal way,  and  by  a  priestly  hand,  according  to  the  most  exact 
ritual,  under  the  most  plausible  circumstances,  emerges  from 


THE    THREE    FOREFATHERS.  265 

the  waters  in  which  he  has  been  bathed,  or  from  the  sprink- 
ling to  which  he  has  been  subjected,  just  as  he  was  before  ? 
giving  proof  that  as  the  Flood  could  not  make  Paradise 
again  overspread  the  earth  with  its  glory,  and  thus  antici- 
pate millennial  scenes,  so  ecclesiastical  baptism  cannot  do 
for  man  that  which  is  the  prerogative  and  function  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  alone  —  regenerate,  and  sanctify,  and  save  the 
soul. 

This  sin  of  Noah  teaches  another  fact.  It  was  overruled 
by  God  to  show  that  Noah  was  not,  as  it  were,  a  second 
Adam,  by  whom  and  in  whom  the  great  experiment  of 
humanity  was  to  be  attempted  again.  He  was  not  the 
proof  that  God  was  starting  with  a  new  plan,  or  a  new 
foundation.  The  fact  that  he  sinned  is  the  evidence  that  he 
was  made,  or  born  rather,  in  the  image  of  Adam,  and 
inherited  Adam's  sin  and  Adam's  alienation  from  God.  All 
that  was  sinful  in  Noah,  was  from  Adam ;  all  that  was  holy, 
beautiful,  and  true,  we  are  told  in  a  previous  chapter,  was 
by  grace.  We  learn,  too,  the  inveteracy  of  man's  guilt, 
from  the  fact  that  ages  did  not  wipe  it  away,  that  penalties 
did  not  destroy  it,  that  all  schemes  and  plans  ever  since 
have  all  failed  to  alter  it.  The  whole  vessel  of  humanity  is 
flawed,  and  marred,  and  tainted ;  and  the  more  we  know 
poor  fallen  m^n,  the  more  abased  w^  must  feel.  There  is 
much  in  man  to  pity,  much  to  deplore,  much  to  pray  for ; 
but  it  is  not  our  part  to  set  ourselves  in  conscious  and 
sceptical  conceit  upon  the  judgment  throne,  and  fulminate 
anathemas,  and  pronounce  condemnation,  where  it  becomes 
us  to  bow  the  knee  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  to  pray 
that  the  God  who  made  would  remake  and  regenerate 
mankind. 

The  more  immediate  subject  of  these  reflections  is  the 
sentence  of  Noah.  Shall  I  call  it  the  curse  ?  I  will  rather 
call  it  the  prediction  pronounced  by  Noah,  and  fulfilled,  as 
23 


266  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

facts  demonstrate,  in  the  case  of  all  the  offspring  of  Shem, 
and  Ham,  and  Japheth.  Shem's  excellence  was  not  the 
cause  of  Shem's  blessing ;  Ham's  sin  was  not  the  cause 
of  Ham's  judgment.  It  is  quite  possible  to  be  the  occasion 
of  a  thing,  and  yet  not  to  be  the  cause  of  that  thing.  The 
prediction  uttered  by  Noah  was  not  the  ebullition  of  private 
passion,  but  the  expression  of  God's  everlasting  and  immu- 
table purpose.  If  I  were  to  be  injured  by  a  person,  and 
instantly  to  retaliate  in  bitter  anathemas,  it  would  be  sin 
and  revenge,  which  ought  not  to  be.  But  when  a  inainister 
of  God,  inspired  as  Noah  was,  becomes  the  organ  of  a 
prophecy  of  God,  the  evidence  that  he  did  not  express  his 
own  private  feelings,  but  was  the  medium  of  God's  purpose, 
is  found  in  the  fact,  that  what  he  prophesied  has  been 
literally  fulfilled.  If  this  had  been  personal  spite,  would 
God,  by  the  fulfilment  of  it,  have  sanctioned  it?  Surely 
not.  Noah  did  not  give  vent  to  an  angry  curse,  because 
Ham  had  sinned;  or  break  forth  into  a  great  blessing, 
because  Shem  had  done  good ;  but  he  became  on  this  occa- 
sion the  organ,  and  no  more,  of  prophecy ;  the  instrument, 
and  po  more,  of  a  blessing  pronounced  upon  the  one,  and 
of  an  awful  and  a  solemn  judgment  inflicted  upon  the 
other. 

This  promise  was  *not  so  much  a  personal  infliction, 
meant  to  light  on  persons,  but  a  family  or  a  national  thing, 
meant  to  brand  or  to  beautify  great  sections  of  the  human 
race.  It  was  not  Canaan  personal  that  he  cursed ;  it  was 
not  Shem  personal  that  he  blessed ;  but  their  descendants. 
Thus,  when  we  read  in  the  Scripture,  "  Esau  have  I  hated, 
Jacob  have  I  loved,"  we  see  it  was  not  the  individual  Esau 
and  the  individual  Jacob  that  is  spoken  of,  but  the  family 
or  the  state  of  which  they  were  the  founders  and  the  great 
forefathers.  Even  so  this  great  curse  or  punishment  here 
denounced  by  Noah,  lighted  on  a  race. 


THE    THREE    FOREFATHERS.  267 

But  it  is  the  characteristic  of  all  great  judgments,  that 
they  are  transmitted  only  when  the  son  imitates  the  de- 
pravity of  the  father,  and  becomes  the  conductor  of  the 
curse  that  was  pronounced  upon  the  family ;  but  the  instant 
that  the  son  or  the  descendant  dissents  from  the  family  in 
its  corrupt  features,  and  develops  new  and  happier  ones, 
the  transmissitm  of  the  curse  is  arrested,  and  the  individual 
who  is  the  exception  in  the  family  becomes  an  inheritor  of 
the  blessing.  An  evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
Melchisedec  was  a  descendant  of  Canaan  and  of  Ham,  yet 
Melchisedec  was  king  of  righteousness  and  king  of  peace, 
blessed  of  God,  and  a  type  of  the  great  Messiah.  Abime- 
lecli  was  a  descendant  of  Ham  or  of  Canaan,  as  we  find  in 
the  20th  chapter  of  Genesis ;  yet  we  read  of  him  that  the 
integrity  of  his  heart  in  the  sight  of  God  was  great,  and 
was  recognized  and  blest  of  God.  Thus  we  find,  that  though 
the  curse  be  denounced  upon  a  family,  because  of  some  first 
founder's  sin,  as  soon  as  a  member  of  that  family  emerges 
by  purity  of  character,  by  loftiness  of  purpose,  by  regenera- 
tion of  heart,  from  the  circle  in  which  the  rest  are,  as  far  as 
he  is  concerned  the  curse  is  arrested  in  its  transmission,  and 
he  becomes  an  inheritor  of  the  blessing  which  was  pro- 
nounced upon  Shem.  Thus,  the  judgment  of  Noah  was 
rather  a  prophecy  relating  to  a  race,  j;han  a  curse  or  a  bless- 
ing pronounced  upon  individuals.  The  difference  between 
the  two  is  very  marked  —  a  prophecy  is  what  we  know  will 
be ;  a  curse  or  a  blessing  is  what  we  wish  to  be.  What  we 
know  will  be  is  one  thing,  what  we  wish  to  be  is  a  very  dis- 
tinct and  a  very  different  thing.  A  bad  man  wishes  ill.  to 
the  human  race ;  a  prophet  predicts  judgments  upon  the 
guilty.  Here  we  have  Noah  not  imprecating  a  curse  to  be, 
but  predicting  a  grand  and  distinctive  condition,  domestic, 
social,  and  national,  that  should  ultimately  be,  and  has  really 
been.     In  the  very  next  passage  of  Genesis,  we  read  of  the 


268  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

divisions  of  the  family  of  Canaan,  of  Sliem,  and  Japheth ; 
the  sons  of  Japheth  divided  the  isles  around  the  Mediterra- 
nean Sea,  including  the  European  nations ;  the  dwellings  of 
Shem  were  all  towards  the  East,  or  Asia ;  the  descendants 
of  Ham  occupied  Africa,  and  the  western  parts  of  Asia, 
Sidon  being  their  border.  Kot  only  does  the  prophet  de- 
termine the  details  of  the  possessions  of  the  children  of 
Shem,  and  of  Ham,  and  of  Japheth,  but  he  predicts  that 
the  descendants  of  Shem,  or  Israel,  shall  have  the  descend- 
ants of  Canaan,  or  his  father  Ham,  for  slaves  or  bondmen. 
If  we  take  a  chart,  and  trace  on  it  the  history  of'  nations, 
we  shall  find  that  the  curse  denounced  upon  the  family  of 
Ham  or  Canaan,  has  been  literally  and  strictly  fulfilled. 
For  instance,  the  Canaanites,  as  their  name  testifies,  who 
occupied  Canaan  before  the  children  of  Israel  took  posses- 
sion of  it,  were  driven,  some  from  their  land,  and  others 
were  made  bondsmen  and  slaves  to  Israel.  At  a  subsequent 
era,  in  the  days  of  David,  the  descendants  of  Ham,  or  the 
Canaanites,  were  swept  completely  from  the  land  of  Canaan. 
They  afterwards  settled  in  Africa ;  and  subsequently  they 
became  part  and  parcel  of  the  Roman  empire ;  and  in  later 
times  we  all  know  that  the  descendants  of  Ham,  or  the 
Africans,  have  been  more  or  less  the  slaves  and  the  bonds- 
men of  the  descendants  of  Japheth.  Let  anybody  read  the 
history  of  Africa  —  I  am  not  justifying  what  is  there 
done,  but  citing  fact  —  has  it  not  been  the  nursery  of  slaves 
for  the  nations  of  Asia  and  of  Europe  ?  And  to  this  day 
one  petty  prince  in  Africa  goes  to  war  with  another,  and 
the  trophies  of  the  conqueror  are  slaves  for  the  markets  of 
Asia  and  of  America.  Slavery  is  at  this  moment,  notwith- 
standing the  noble  sacrifices  we  have  made,  as  a  country,  to 
suppress  it,  as  flourishing  and  as  wide  spread  as  ever  it  was 
in  the  history  of  unhappy  Africa  —  in  fact,  efforts  to  arrest 
it  have  strangely  acted  in  spreading  and  supporting  it ;  and 


THE    THREE    FOREFATHERS.  269 

yet  it  is  nothing  in  the  African  that  makes  him  essentially  a 
slave.  People  fancy,  that  because  the  African's  skull  is  not 
rounded  so  beautifully  as  ours,  that  therefore  the  African's 
brain  is  altogether  inferior  to  ours,  and  his  nature  very 
different.  Are  you  aware  that  the  magnificent  Christian 
writer  Augustine  was  an  African,  it  may  be  a  Canaanite? 
Are  you  aware  that  Hannibal,  who  shook  imperial  Rome, 
and  made  the  Caesars  tremble  on  their  thrones,  was  an  Afri- 
am,  probably  as  black  as  a  negro,  a  descendant  of  Ham,  not 
from  Japheth  ?  And  were  it  not  that  there  is  a  mysterious 
judgment  resting  on  the  race,  that  we  cannot  remove,  and  that 
they  seem  yet  unable  to  overcome,  the  African,  as  susceptible 
of  education  as  we  are,  would  be  as  signalized  by  his  litera- 
ture, his  skill  in  war,  his  success  in  diplomacy,  as  any  of  the 
descendants  of  Japheth,  or  of  Shem.  At  the  same  time  it 
is  worthy  of  remark,  that  the  very  curse  of  Africa  is  likely 
to  be  the  medium  of  its  chiefest  blessing ;  for  slavery,  which 
w^e  so  deeply  deprecate  and  deplore,  is  really  overruled  by 
God  at  this  moment,  to  be  the  means  of  the  Christianiza- 
tion  of  that  country.  How  often  have  we  tried  to  ascend 
the  rivers  of  Africa,  and  seen  our  travellers  perish  midway 
by  the  malaria  or  poisonous  air  of  the  climate !  And  how 
often  have  our  missionaries  travelled  in  that  land,  and  left 
their  graves  the  only  evidence  that  they  were  there  !  But 
now  the  slaves  of  America  are  coming  into  contact  with  the 
Christianity  of  America,  and  with  the  Christianity  of  other 
nations  of  the  earth ;  so  that  at  this  moment,  evil  as  it  is, 
slavery  is  overruled  to  originate  black  Christian  missiona- 
ries, to  whom  the  climate  offers  no  obstruction ;  and  who 
love  their  countrymen,  and  go  forth  to  do  them  good ;  and 
thus  that  which  has  stained  the  hands  of  Europeans  with 
infamy  and  sin,  will  be  overruled  by  the  God  of  all  grace, 
to  be  the  enlightenment,  and  the  elevation  of  a  country  long 
sunk  in  darkness  and  in  the  shadow  of  death.  The  pre- 
23* 


270  THE    CIIUKCn    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

diction,  that  the  sons  of  Canaan  shall  be  bondsmen  of 
bondsmen,  is  expressive  of  the  worst  slavery  that  can  be 
conceived;  whenever  the  Hebrew  writers  wish  to  express 
their  sentiments  very  strongly,  they  redouble  the  word  and 
speak  thus,  "  King  of  kings,"  which  means  a  very  great 
king ;  so  "  Lord  of  lords ; "  and  in  this  case,  "  Bondsmen 
of  bondsmen,"  denotes  the  greatest  slavery  that  man  can  be 
subjected  to.  We  do  not  wish  to  state  that  this  ancient 
prophecy,  which  was  uttered  in  the  neighborhood  of  Ararat 
four  thousand  years  ago,  and  which  is  fulfilling,  afid  being 
fulfilled  at  the  present  moment,  defying  all  efforts  to  diminish 
it  or  to  avert  it,  sanctions  our  support  of  slavery  in  the 
slightest  manner ;  man  wa,3  never  meant  to  be  the  property 
of  man,  but  to  be  the  possession  and  the  prop^erty  of  God 
only.  We  are  not  to  take  God's  prophecy,  and  go  forth 
and  do  what  our  consciences  tell  us  is  sin,  in  order,  as  we 
allege,  to  sanctify  that  sin  by  appealing  to  the  predictions  of 
God.  A  specimen  of  this  I  have  been  amazed  at  reading 
in  a  work  published  by  an  illustrious  politician  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  A  very  able  biography  of  Lord  George  Ben- 
tinck  has  been  written  by  a  distinguished  politician,  D'ls- 
raeli;  and  in  that  biography  he  makes  the  extraordinary 
statement  —  that  it  was  predicted  that  the  Jews  should 
crucify  Christ ;  and  therefore,  it  is  implied,  the  Jews  were 
not  guilty  of  any  sin  in  doing  so.  He  says,  if  the  crucifiers 
had  not  been  there,  how  could  the  Victim  have  been  immo- 
lated ?  and  that  the  Jews'  part  in  that  dread  tragedy  was  as 
necessary,  and  therefore  as  sinless,  as  was  the  fact,  that  the 
great  Victim  should  die ;  in  other  words,  he  assumes,  that 
we  are  w^arranted  to  attempt  to  fulfil  prophecies,  at  any 
sacrifice.  Where  God  prophecies,  he  will  take  care  of  the 
fulfilment;  but  where  God  prescribes  to  us,  it  is  ours  to 
obey  his  precepts ;  and  if  Mr.  D'Israeli,  who  has  so  elo- 
quently written  upon  this  subject,  had  only  read  the  Acts  of 


THE    THKEE    FOREFATHERS.  '  271 

the  Apostles,  he  would  there  have  found  it  stated  upon  au- 
thority that  he  would  not,  I  presume,  question,  that  whilst  it 
was  the  purpose  and  prediction  of  God,  that  Christ  should 
die,  it  was,  notwithstanding,  sin  and  criminality  in  the  Jews, 
to  put  him  to  death.  St.  Peter,  speaking  to  the  Jews,  said, 
"Jesus  of  Nazareth,  being  delivered  by  the  determinate 
counsel"  —  there  is  God's  purpose  —  "and  foreknowledge 
of  God  "  —  there  is  God's  prophecy  —  "  ye  have  taken,  and 
with  wicked  hands  have  crucified  and  slain."  So  that  while 
it  was  matter  of  purpose  and  matter  of  prophecy,  it  is 
asserted  at  the  same  time  by  Peter  —  and  if  we  read  Peter's 
addresses  at  the  commencement  of  the  Acts,  we  shall  find 
the  distinction  more  than  once  —  that  it  was  not  the  less 
sinful  of  the  Jews,  because  they  executed  the  prophecy  of 
God.  So  Cyrus  was  God's  battle-axe,  to  do  God's  work,  i 
yet  he  was  sinful  nevertheless.  Nebuchadnezzar  fulfilled 
Go^'s  prophecy,  and  yet  Nebuchadnezzar's  sin  was  not  the 
less.  We  must  distinguish  between  a  prophecy  and  a  pre- 
cept ;  it  is  our  business  to  obey  the  precepts ;  it  is  God's 
prerogative  to  look  after  the  fulfilment  of  his  own  prophe- 
'cies.  Never  should  we  venture  to  quote  a  prophecy  as  jus- 
tifying an  act  of  ours.  We  are  stepping  into  God's  province 
when  we  try  to  fulfil  prophecies ;  it  is  ours  to  obey  his  pre- 
cepts, because  they  are  the  prescriptions  of  God  himself. 
Whatever,  then,  may  be  the  nature  and  effects  of  the 
ancient  prediction  uttered  by  Noah,  and  however  fully  these 
have  been  realized  in  the  lapse  of  years,  and  however 
necessary  that  all  should  be  fulfilled,  we  are  not  to  conclude 
that  our  fulfilling  it  exempts  us  from  the  crime  that  cleaves 
to-  those  who  make  man  a  property  of  man ;  and  treat  the 
creature,  made  in  the  image  of  God,  as  if  he  were  one  of 
the  beasts  of  the  field. 

I  have  looked  at  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy  in  refer- 
ence to  Canaan  ;  let  us  now  see  it  in  relation  to  Shem.    We 


272  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

know  from  the  10th  chapter  of  Genesis,  that  the,  Jews  and 
Asiatics  are  the  descendants  of  Shem  —  about  this  there  is 
no  dispute  whatever,  amongst  those  who  have  written  upon 
ethnography,  or  watched  and  traced  the  origin  and  descent 
of  nations.  It  is  said,  "  Blessed  be  the  God  of  Shem."  That 
imphes  that  Shem  should  have  God  for  his  covenant  God. 
The  first  promise  made  to  Abraham  was,  "  I  am  thy  God ; 
and  I  will  be  a  God  unto  thy  seed."  AYe  may  trace  in  the 
constant  allusion  to  God  as  the  covenant  God  of  the  Jews, 
echoing  along  the  centuries  the  first  prophecy  that  was 
issued  by  Noah  respecting  Shem,  and  the  God  of  Shem. 
Hence,  from  the  altar  of  the  Jew  alone,  amidst  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  there  ascended  pure  incense ;  from  the  lips  of 
the  Jew,  amidst  the  mass  of  nations  around,  there  issued 
true  praise ;  and  only  amid  the  nation  of  the  Jews  was  there 
exhibited  and  developed  that  sublime  and  lofty  humility  of 
heart,  that  earnest  and  pure  consistency  of  character,  which 
indicated  the  presence  of  the  God  of  Shem,  and  the  special 
benediction  of  the  Lord  God  of  Israel. 

Let  me  notice  also  the  prediction  respecting  Japheth,  and 
see  how  far  it  has  been  fulfilled.  But  here  there  is  a  diffi- 
culty in  the  application  of  the  word  "  he."  "  God  shall 
enlarge  Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem." 
Some  think  that  he  there  relates  to  God,  and  that  it  means 
God  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  ;  others  think,  and 
with  greater  propriety,  that  it  relates  to  Japheth,  and  that  it 
states  that  Japheth  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem.  But 
it  is  remarkable  enough,  that  in  whatever  light  we  take  it, 
it  has  been  strictly  fulfdled.  Does  it  mean  that  God  shall 
dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  ?  then  let  us  recollect  the  words 
of  God,  for  it  is  said,  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt 
amongst  us."  The  literal  translation  of  it  is.  He  shall  be 
the  "  Shechinah  "  in  the  midst  of  Shem.  The  word  "  She- 
chinah "  is  derived  from  the  Hebrew  word   "  To  dwell ; " 


THE    THREE    FOREFATHERS.  273 

it  therefore  means  that  God  shall  have  his  temple,  his 
residence,  his  altar,  his  dwelling-place,  in  the  tents  of 
Shem;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  Word  shall  be  made 
flesh,  and  dwell  in  the  midst  of  us.  But  if  it  means  that 
Japheth  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem,  then  it  implies, 
first,  that  the  great  blessings  of  the  Jews,  the  descendants 
of  Shem,  shall  be  shared  by  the  Gentiles  or  the  Europeans, 
the  descendants  of  Japheth ;  and  that  Japheth  dwelling  in 
the  tents  of  Shem,  or  the  Gentiles  admitted  to  the  same 
grand  privilege  as  the  Jew,  shall  be  one  of  the  blessed 
characteristi3S  of  the  latter  day.  And  it  is  plainly  with 
some  such  view  as  this,  or  rather,  with  this  prophecy 
clearly  before  him,  that  Isaiah  proclaims,  with  reference 
to  the  admission  of  the  Gentiles,  addressing  the  Jews, 
"  Enlarge  the  place  of  thy  tent,  stretch  forth  the  curtains 
of  thine  habitations;  spare  not,  lengthen  thy  cords,  and 
strengthen  thy  stakes ;  for  thou  shalt  break  forth  on  the 
right  hand  and  on  the  left,  and  thy  seed  shall  inherit  the 
Gentiles,  and  make  the  desolate  cities  to  be  inhabited : "  he 
evidently  alludes  to  the  prediction  that  Japheth,  or  the 
Gentiles,  shall  yet  dwell  in,  or  share  the  privileges  of,  the 
descendants  of  Shem,  or  the  Jews. 

The  prediction  added  to  this,  that  God  shall  enlarge 
Japheth,  has  been  most  strikingly  fulfilled  in  the  history 
of  nations  to  this  time.  "Which  of  the  three  nations  has 
been  most  enlarged  ?  Every  attempt  made  by  the  Saracen 
or  the  Turk,  by  the  African  or  the  Asiatic,  to  take  the  land 
of  Japheth,  has  signally  failed ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  we 
find  that  every  effort  made  by  the  descendants  of  Japheth, 
that  is,  the  European  race,  and  the  crown  and  the  flower  of 
it,  the  Saxon  portion  of  it,  has  been  followed  by  wide  spread 
and  triumphant  success.  We  can  quote  America  as  a 
specimen  of  God  enlarging  the  dwelling  of  Japheth.  We 
can  point   to  our  countrymen  in   Palestine,  to  thousands 


274  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

penetrating  Africa,  and  tens  of  thousands  finding  settle- 
ments amid  all  the  great  rivers  of  Asia,  as  proofs  that  God 
still  enlarges  Japheth,  and  spreads  that  great  and  powerful 
section  of  the  human  family  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the 
river  even  to  the  very  ends  of  the  earth.  It  is  remarkable 
also  that  we  hear,  in  this  day,  our  newspapers  and  our 
statesmen  continually  speak  of  the  indomitable  energy  of 
the  Saxon  race,  and  of  the  destiny  of  the  world  to  be 
peopled  and  subdued  by  them.  This  is  just  the  unconscious 
attestation  of  statesmen,  philosophers,  and  literary  men, 
to  the  fulfilment  of*  the  prophecy,  "  God  shall  enlarge 
Japheth ; "  and,  quite  as  remarkable,  nations  seem  to 
flourish  precisely  —  if  you  will  allow  the  expression  —  in 
proportion  as  the  Saxon  element  is  in  them,  apart  from  the 
depressing  influence  of  Romanism,  and  the  elevating  power 
of  Protestant  Christianity.  Looking  to  Ireland,  let  us  ask, 
which  is  the  expanding  race,  the  Saxon,  or  the  Celtic? 
Who  are  the  depressed  race  there,  who  have  recourse  to 
emigration  as  their  only  means  of  escape  from  utter  destruc- 
tion ?  The  race  that  are,  as  it  can  be  proved,  the  descend- 
ants of  Ham,  or  the  Milesian  race ;  for  the  present  Irish 
language  is  actually  a  dialect  of  the  Punic  or  Carthaginian 
language  spoken  in  the  days  of  Hannibal.  At  all  events, 
it  is  so  like  it,  that  it  would  appear,  from  inscriptions  on 
ancient  monuments,  to  be  an  offshoot  from  it.  Now  whilst 
it  is  quite  true,  that  Protestantism  elevates  a  nation,  and 
Popery  degrades  it,  there  seems  something  in  the  Saxon 
character  powerful,  indomitable,  expansive ;  and  there  seems 
something  in  the  African  character,  wherever  its  blood  even 
mingles,  or  still  more  predominates,  that  leads  to  degen- 
eracy," weakness,  and  almost  ruin.  What  is  this,  but  the 
19th  century  proclaiming  by  its  facts,  that  the  prophecy 
which  was  uttered  4,000  years  ago  is  true;  and  that  thy 
word,  O  God,  is  truth  ? 


THE   THREE   FOREFATHEKS.  275 

I  might  show  at  far  greater  length,  but  what  I  have  said 
is  sufficient  to  prove  the  fulfilment  of  this  ancient  proph- 
ecy, that  Canaan  shall  be  a  servant  of  servants  unto  his 
brethren ;  that  Shem  shall  be  blessed  in  the  knowledge  and 
enjoyment  of  the  true  God ;  and  that  Japheth  shall  dwell 
in  the  tents  of  Shem,  that  is,  be  participator  in  Shem's 
privileges,  or,  as  some  think  that  dwelling  in  tents  is 
connected  with  enlargement,  it  may  mean  taking  possession 
of  the  country  of  Shem.  Let  us  look  to  the  East  —  who 
are  the  lords  of  India?  In  whose  hands  is  it  at  this 
moment  ?  In  the  hands  of  the  descendants  of  Japheth. 
How  striking  it  is  to  see  this  ancient  prophecy  fulfilled 
before  our  eyes  !  How  strange,  after  proof  on  proof,  that 
any  man  should  doubt  that  Moses  wrote  as  he  was  inspired 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God ! 

One  or  two  short  lessons  are  suggested.  We  see  from 
ancient  prophecy,  thus  carried  into  fulfilment  by  God,  that 
his  word  shall  cleave  its  way  to  its  own  accomplishment,  in 
spite  of  all  obstructions,  and  in  the  face  of  every  difficulty. 
Man  thinks  he  is  acting  for  himself,  whilst  unconsciously 
he  is  but  the  instrument  in  the  hand  of  God.  God  has 
sketched  the  patriarchal  cartoon,  and  man  is  rushing,  in  all 
ages,  with  all  his  might,  to  fill  it  up.  God  has  predicted 
what  shall  be,  and  man  unconsciously  is  doing  what  God 
has  said  must  be.  The  accidents  of  time  are  the  inspira- 
tions of  God;  the  deeds  of  man  are  the  fulfilment  of  the 
prophecies  of  God. 

There  is  much  of  sovereignty  in  all  that  God  does. 
Why  curse  Canaan  ?  why  bless  Shem  ?  why  enlarge 
Japheth  ?  These  are  some  of  the  "  whys  "  that  we  often 
ask,  and  to  which  we  can  get  no  answer.  We  have  less 
of  originating  poAver  than  we  suppose ;  God  reigns.  "  Thou 
hast  hid  these  things,  O  Father,  from  the  wise  and  prudent ; 
and  thou  hast  revealed  them  unto  babes."     Why  this  was 


276  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

we  cannot  say.  The  close  will  explain  the  beginning ;  tlie 
light  of  eternity  shall  shine  upon  the  dark  nooks  of  time ; 
the  voices  of  heaven  in  the  last  day,  will  resolve  and 
harmonize  the  apparent  discords  which  we  hear  and  are 
puzzled  by,  in  this  dispensation. 

If  we  are  the  children  of  Japheth,  let  us  recollect  that 
we  are  the  partakers  of  great  privileges,  and  have,  there- 
fore, higher,  loftier,  less  exhaustible  responsibilities.  Why 
does  God  make  one  man  stronger  and  another  richer  than 
his  fellow  ?  Not  that  they  may  exact  more,  but  that  they 
may  give  and  sacrifice  more.  Why  has  God  made  Japheth 
so  great?  That  Japheth  may  be  the  instrument  only  of 
greater  good.  Why  is  the  English  tongue  the  possession 
of  America,  and  of  India,  and  of  Palestine,  and  of  vast 
sections  of  Africa,  and  increasingly  so?  It  is,  no  doubt, 
that  this  tongue,  inspired  by  the  riches  of  Divine  light,  and 
life,  and  grace,  may  be  the  medium  of  countless  benedic- 
tions to  all  the  ends  of  the  earth.  There  is  nothing  we 
may  look  to  with  greater  hopes  than  this,  that  our  country's 
power  is  spreading  every  day;  and  there  is  nothing  we 
should  pray  for  with  greater  fervor,  than  that  where  our 
country's  power  is  felt,  mankind  may  taste  and  feel  her 
mercy  too.  Wherever  the  roll  of  our  conquering  drum  is 
heard,  may  the  glad  voice  of  the  gospel  be  heard  also ;  on 
whatever  strand,  or  in  whatever  harbor,  our  ships  drop 
their  anchors,  may  the  glad  tidings  of  a  Saviour  be  heard. 
God  grant  that  Englishmen  may  go  forth  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth,  not  like  the  locusts  of  Egypt,  to  blast  and  blight 
every  green  and  beautiful  thing ;  but  the  pioneers  of  good, 
the  lights  of  the  world,  to  shed  the  splendors  of  the  cross 
upon  all  mankind ;  or  the  salt  of  the  truth,  silently,  but  no 
less  effectually,  to  saturate  all  that  are  in  contact  with  them, 
or  under  their  influence.  If  we  are  exalted  in  privilege  as 
the  descendants  of  Japheth,  there  is  no  room   for   pride. 


THE    THREE    FOREFATHERS.  277 

Our  privileges  and  our  sins  should  equally  humble  us. 
Our  privileges  are  not  our  own,  therefore  they  should 
humble  us.  Our  sins  are  our  own,  therefore  they  should 
humble  us.  Amid  our  blessings  we  should  ever  feel, 
"  Who  has  made  thee  to  differ  ?  "  and  as  God  has  made  us, 
not  by  our  desert,  but  in  his  own  sovereignty,  to  differ,  it  is 
that  we  may  be  a  blessing  in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  our 
prosperity  unto  all  that  come  into  contact  with  us. 

Let  us  learn,  in  the  last  place,  that  to  be  the  descendant 
of  Japheth,  highly  exalted,  and  even  to  be  the  descendant 
of  Shem,  with  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God,  is  not  neces- 
sarily to  be  a  Christian.  Many  are  Abraham's  children 
according  to  the  flesh,  who  have  no  saving  acquaintance 
with  Abraham's  God.  Let  us  remember  that  to  be  classed 
in  the  family  of  Japheth,  will  only  add  to  our  condemnation, 
if  we  walk  unworthy  of  it ;  and  that  the  great  prerequisite 
that  admits  into  glory,  and  without  whi-ch  we  shall  never 
see  God  in  mercy  and  in  love,  is  to  be  born  again.  It 
matters  little  whether  we  be  English,  Scotch,  French,  or 
Irish  ;  —  if  we  be  not  Christians,  —  real,  living,  converted 
Christians,  —  we  can  never  become  the  heirs  of  God,  and 
fellow  partakers  with  the  saints  of  the  covenant  of  promise. 

24 


CHAPTER    XVL 


Enoch's  prophecy. 

"  Oh,  on  that  day,  that  wrathful  day 
When  man  to  judgment  wakes  from  clay, 
Be  thou,  0  Christ,  the  sinner's  stay. 
Though  heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away." 

"  .And  Enoch  also,  the  seventh  from  Adam,  prophesied  of  these,  saying, 
Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousand  of  his  saints,  to  execute 
judgment  upon  all,  and  to  convince  all  that  are  ungodly  among  them 
of  all  their  ungodly  deeds  which  they  have  ungodly  committed,  and 
of  all  their  hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against 
him."  —  JuDE  14,  15. 

In  the  course  of  some  lectures  on  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  (Voices  of  the  Dead,)  there 
will  be  found  illustrated  at  length  these  words,  "  By  faith 
Enoch  was  translated,  that  he  should  not  see  death ;  and 
"was  not  found,  because  God  had  translated  him :  for  before 
his  translation  he  had  this  testimony,  that  he  pleased  God." 
We  now  turn  to  another  fact  in  the  history  of  the  same 
illustrious  member  of  the  Church  before  the  Flood,  the 
prophecy  that  is  stated  by  the  sacred  penman  to  have  been 
littered  by  Enoch. 

But  before  we  do  so,  let  us  notice  some  of  the  characteris- 
tics of  Enoch.  First  of  all,  we  find  that  the  line  of  Enoch  was 
the  lineage  out  of  which  Christ  was  to  come.  In  marking 
out  the  family  of  Adam  in  its  best  and  most  beautiful  divis- 


Enoch's  prophecy.  279 

ions,  the  line  of  Cain  is  passed  by,  and  seemingly  forgotten ; 
the  line  of  Setli,  so  much  the  superior  of  the  twain,  is 
selected  as  the  lineage  out  of  which  Christ  was  to  come, 
and  yet  this  line  is  any  thing  but  faultless.  We  have  only 
to  trace  it  through  its  successive  links  until  it  comes  to  the 
days  of  Noah,  and  onward  to  the  patriarch  Abraham,  and 
we  shall  find  that  the  very  choicest  specimens  of  all  human- 
ity —  the  line  singled  out  because  of  its  own  peculiar  and 
distinctive  excellence,  —  was  yet  morally  vitiated,  and  was 
in  the  likeness  of  the  fallen  Adam. 

In  looking  at  the  -character  of  Enoch,  we  see  that  the 
highest  personal  piety  is  perfectly  consistent  with  a  life  led 
in  the  world,  and  the  fulfilment  of  all  the  duties  and  the 
responsibilities  that  flow  from  it.  Enoch  was  not  a  recluse, 
his  home  was  not  an  anchorite's  cell,  his  life  was  not  that 
of  an  ascetic.  He  did  not  live  a  monk  —  he  did  not  die  a 
suicide.  He  had  sons  and  daughters,  he  belonged  to  society, 
he  was  a  husband,  a  father,  and  a  friend ;  and  yet  he  was 
distinguished  for  his  piety  and  superiority  to  the  sins,  the 
follies,  and  the  vices  of  mankind.  We  have  therefore  in 
this  early  age  evidence  that  the  ascetic  life  is  not  necessary 
to  the  highest  Christian  attainments,  that  the  very  loftiest 
approach  to  the  character  of  God  may  be  realized  wdthout 
coming  mechanically  out  of  the  world,  but  by  being  morally 
superior  to  its  sins  and  its  corrupt  practices  and  evils. 

In  the  next  place,  we  have  the  character  of  Enoch 
defined  by  one  grand  feature,  namely,  his  relation  to  God. 
He  is  said  to  be  one  who  walked  with  God.  This  is  a  most 
expressive  trait ;  it  is  the  leading  touch  in  the  picture,  that 
reveals  all  the  rest.  His  walking  with  God,  or  his  relation- 
ship to  God,  like  the  great  law  of  gravitation  in  the  physical 
world,  kept  all  the  rest  of  the  parts  of  his  character  in 
perfect  proportion,  harmony,  and  order.  Wherever  there 
is  genuine  piety,  there  will  be  pure  morality.     Let  our  rela- 


280  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

tionship  to  God  be  put  right  by  regeneration  of  heart,  and 
renewal  of  nature,  and  our  relationships  to  each  other  will 
all  beautifully  fall  into  their  natural  and  proper  places. 
How  short,  however,  is  the  biography  of  this  good  man ! 
How  little  is  said  of  him,  but  how  much  is  implied !  Read 
the  life  of  a  Caasar,  an  Alexander,  or  a  Napoleon,  and  you 
find  whole  volumes  necessary  to  register  their  exploits ;  but 
the  reader  of  the  life  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  Chris- 
tians of  the  ancient  day,  sees  a  single  line  alike  Ips  epitaph 
and  his  biography.  The  roaring  cataracts  of  time  make 
great  noise  and  startle  the  still  worfd ;  but  the  sweet  and 
gentle  streams  that  beautify  it  as  they  run  with  a  belt  of 
verdure,  and  flower,  and  fruit,  make  no  noise  at  all.  And 
yet,  the  few  words  in  which  Enoch's  life  is  expressed  are 
eloquently  suggestive.  A  whole  biography  of  holy  and 
consistent  character  is  called  up  by  the  simple  announce- 
ment, "  Enoch  walked  with  God." 

And  when  one  looks  at  the  rest  of  this  record,  and  the 
characteristics  of  the  age,  as  these  again  are  enunciated  by 
God  himself  in  a  subsequent  chapter,  we  must  see  how  very 
solitary,  in  one  sense,  Enoch's,  life  was.  He  was  not  alone 
,  in  the  sense  that  he  was  not  in  society ;  but  he  was  alone  in 
his  deepest  and  truest  sympathies,  and  feelings,  and  rela- 
tions. The  highest  Christian  in  the  heart  of  the  greatest 
crowd  may  be  far  more  alone  than  the  ascetic  living  in  a 
cell,  or  perched  upon  the  trunk  of  a  tree  in  the  midst  of  the 
remotest  desert.  Real  ahneness  is  not  something  corporeal, 
material,  outer ;  it  is  spiritual,  moral,  inner.  Enoch,  in  the 
midst  of  a  world  of  great  excitement,  of  rare  criminality, 
of  vast  enterprise,  walked  with  God ;  alone  in  his  feelings, 
with  few  to  respond  to  them,  or  to  take  sweet  counsel  with 
him,  as  he  walked  to  the  place  where  God  dwelt.  And  yet, 
in  this  solitariness  of  his  character,  there  was  a  sublimity 
that  only  makes  it  appear  the  more  illustrious  and  beautiful. 


Enoch's  rROPHECY.  281 

He  walked  with  God,  when  the  rest  of  mankind  about  him 
were  walking,  as  it  is  subsequently  recorded,  after  the  imagi- 
nations of  the  thoughts  of  their  own  hearts,  which  were 
only  evil  continually. 

We  learn  from  this  allusion  to  Enoch,  that  God  never 
yet  in  the  history  of  mankind  was  without  a  witness  to 
himself.  There  never  has  been  an  age  when  the  corruption 
has  been  so  dark,  universal,  and  unrelieved,  that  there  was 
not  one  single  witness  to  protest  and  testify  against  it.  In 
the  darkest  eclipse  of  the  heaven,  some  bright  stars  have 
caught  the  eye  of  some  spectator;  and  in  the  bleakest 
deserts,  wilds,  and  solitudes  of  the  earth,  there  blooms  often 
the  most  beautiful  and  fragrant  flower ;  unseen  by  man,  yet 
as  beautiful  as  if  meant  for  universal  inspection.  And  in 
the  mediaeval  ages,  when  the  whole  visible  Christian  frame- 
work had  become  degenerate  and  corrupt,  there  were  links 
of  a  true  succession  invisible  to  man,  but  visible  to  God, 
connecting  the  apostles  of  the  first  century  with  the  Reform- 
ers of  the  sixteenth,  and  indicating  that  God  never  in  the 
worst  of  times  was  without  a  witness  to  proclaim  his  praise, 
or  bid  the  nations  look  and  live  and  be  happy. 

"We  learn  also  that  the  time  never  was  when  there  was 
no  church  in  the  world.  The  church  is  not  a  thing  of  the 
New  Testament  as  distinguished  from  the  Old.  There  was 
a  church  when  Adam  and  Eve  and  Abel  were  the  three 
who  met  first  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  realized  then  as 
truly,  if  not  so  fully,  as  we  do  now  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise,  "  I  am  in  the  midst  of  them."  And  there  was  a 
chu*ch,  wherever  Enoch  found  one  or  two,  as  surely  he  did, 
to  join  with  him  in  worshipping  God.  And  wherever  now, 
under  whatever  form,  or  longitude,  or  latitude,  two  or  three 
shall  meet  together  in  Christ's  name,  there  will  be  a  true 
church  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  The  church  has  been 
from  the  beginning ;  and  if  we  are  to  listen  to  that  church, 
24* 


282  THE  cnuRcn  before  the  flood. 

let  us  listen  to  Enoch,  to  Noah,  to  Abraham,  to  Job,  to 
Isaiah,  to  the  prophets,  evangelists,  and  apostles,  its  choicest 
members,  for  all  these  were  members,  teachers,  and  minis- 
ters of  it. 

The  church  never  yet  was  without  teachers.  The  name 
Enoch  means  "teaching,"  although  some  have  thought  it 
means  rather  "  educated."  He  was  a  public  teacher  of  the 
truth.  He  taught  it  by  what  he  was,  as  well  as  by  what  he 
said.  He  walked  with  God,  and  that  walk  was  an  ^eloquent 
homily :  God  took  him,  or  translated  him  to  himself,  and 
that  translation  was  an  impressive  peroration  to  it.  When 
Enoch  therefore  walked  with  God,  he  was,  and  thus  showed 
he  was,  a  teacher  sent  from  God.  The  fact  that  Enoch 
prophesied,  is  evidence  that  he  had  an  official  character  as 
well  as  a  personal  relationship  to  God,  and  was  a  teacher 
of  the  church  in  which  he  lived,  a  prophet  who  spake  as  he 
was  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  a  light  in  the  surrounding 
darkness,  an  oracle  in  the  midst  of  abounding  error. 

The  holiest  man  was  selected  by  God  to  denounce  the 
most  awful  judgment,  not  only  upon  that  age,  but  upon  all 
mankind  at  the  close  of  this  dispensation.  Who  was  se- 
lected to  prophesy,  "  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten 
thousands  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and 
to  convince  all  that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their 
ungodly  deeds  which  they  have  ungodly  committed,  and  of 
all  their  hard  speeches  which  ungodly  sinners  have  spoken 
against  him  ? "  It  was  the  holiest  man.  So  awful  and 
solemn  a  duty,  it  was  fit  to  devolve  upon  one  who  walked 
with  God,  and  lived  nearest  to  him.  He  was  the  prophet 
of  the  judgment  to  come,  whose  life  was  the  most  beautiful 
instance  and  specimen  of  Christian  consistency  and  conduct. 
Holy  lips  alone  should  enunciate  awful  judgments.  It  was  a 
holy  man  who  was  selected  to  be  God's  first  prophet  of  the 
coming  woe.     The  burden  of  a  prophet's  woe  should  lie 


Enoch's  prophecy.  283 

upon  a  heart  that  is  the  habitation  of  God  himself.  And 
therefore,  Enoch,  the  holy  man,  was  selected  to  give  utter- 
ance to  the  prophecy,  so  very  solemn  in  its  character,  "  The 
Lord  cometh  to  execute  judgment." 

Having  offered  these  prefatory  remarks  upon  the  prophet, 
let  us  look  at  his  prophecy.  The  first  question  that  has 
been  asked  is,  Where  is  this  prophecy  recorded  ?  Where 
did  Jude  find  it?  Nothing  is  said  in  the  5th  chapter  of 
Genesis  about  Enoch  prophesying  the  descent  of  judgment 
upon  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Some  have  supposed  that 
he  refers  to  an  apocryphal  book  called  the  Book  of  Enoch, 
which  contains  a  statement  something  hke  this;  and  that 
Jude,  therefore,  assumes  the  inspiration  of  a  book  not  regis- 
tered in  the  sacred  canon ;  but  this  cannot  be  proved.  In 
the  first  place,  it  can  be  proved  that  the  Book  of  Enoch, 
which  some  scholars  have  discovered,  and  which,  I  believe, 
one  has  published,  was  not  written  till  the  4th  or  5th  cen- 
tury after  the  Christian  era ;  and  that  Jude,  therefore,  could 
not  refer  to  a  book  which  did  not  exist  at  the  time  when  he 
wrote  his  Epistle.  Nor  is  there  any  necessity  for  supposing 
that  he  at  all  refers  to  any  book.  He  states  a  fact ;  and  the 
same  inspiration  that  prompted  Jude  to  write  his  Epistle, 
revealed  to  Jude  the  prophecy ;  and  the  truth  of  the  proph- 
ecy, like  the  truth  of  the  Epistle,  rests  upon  the  immediate 
and  unquestioned  inspiration  of  God.  We  therefore  con- 
clude that  Jude  knew  the  fact  to  be  so,  and  the  prophecy  to 
be  truth ;  and  inspired  and  guided  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
God,  he  enunciated  it  for  the  information  of  the  church  in 
all  ages. 

We  find  in  Jude  the  true  use  to  be  made  of  good  men. 
Jude  records  simply  the  prophecy,  but  does  not  propose  the 
worship  of  li^noch ;  and  our  practice  ought  to  be,  not  to 
canonize  the  saints  that  are  gone,  but  to  collect  the  lessons 
they  have  left  behind  them,  to  learn  those  lessons  as  far  as 


284:  THE    CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

tliey  were  the  echoes  of  God's  truth,  and  to  imitate  their 
conduct  as  far  as  they  followed  and  imitated  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  The  only  relic  of  Enoch  that  Jude  recognized,  is 
the  prophecy  he  left  behind  him,  and  the  only  images  that 
we  should  regard  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  should 
be  the  truths  they  taught,  and  the  examples  they  set.  It  is 
not  the  adoration  of  their  names,  but  the  imitation  of  their 
examples,  that  becomes  us.  In  no  part  of  the  word  of  God 
are  we  told  to  collect  the  relics,  or  to  ask  the  intercession, 
or  to  apply  for  the  merits  of  those  who  have  preceded  us  to 
glory ;  but  in  every  part  of  it  we  are  told  to  learn  the  pure 
lessons  that  they  taught,  to  imitate  the  holy  example  they 
developed,  and  to  be  guided  by  that  learning  and  that  imi- 
tation only  so  far  as  they  taught  the  truth  of  God,  and 
imitated  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  learn,  from  this  allusion  of  Jude,  that  Enoch  was  the 
first  and  most  ancient  prophet  after  God  himself.  The  first 
prophecy  was  in  the  form  of  a  promise,  "The  woman's 
seed  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head."  The  next  catholic  or 
universal  prophecy  was  that  enunciated  by  Enoch,  when  he 
said,  "  Behold,  the  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousands  of  his 
saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all."  And  yet,  we  believe 
this  prophecy  to  be  true,  not  because  it  is  old.  Mere  age 
does  not  make  falsehood  truth,  and  seeming  novelty  does 
not  make  truth  false.  Antiquity  without  truth  is  simply  the 
inveteracy  of  error.  "We  do  not  look  to  the  antiquity  of  a 
dogma,  in  order  to  assert  our  reception  of  it,  but  to  the 
truth  of  that  dogma.  Some  ancient  things  are  false,  some 
apparently  recent  things  are  true ;  and  God's  inspired  truth 
is  like  himself;  it  was,  is,  and  ever  shall  be,  the  same  yes- 
terday, today,  and  for  ever.  But  we  accept  the  prophecy, 
not  because  it  is  a  relic  floated  down  from  an  ancient  and  a 
distant  age,  but  because  it  is  a  truth  bearing  the  image  and 
the  superscription  of  inspiration  itself. 


Enoch's  prophecy.  285 

Now  this  prophecy  of  Enoch  was  strongly  applicable  to 
the  antediluvian  age.  Men  lived  long,  and  because  they 
lived  to  a  great  age  and  were  vigorous  in  health,  as  they 
were  gigantic,  some  of  them,  in  stature,  their  sins  and  their 
crimes  were  corresponding  to  their  age,  their  strength,  and 
their  position.  Hence  our  Lord,  when  alluding  to  the  days 
before  the  Flood,  describes  them  in  such  terms  as  these, 
"  In  the  days  that  were  before  the  Flood,  they  were  eating 
and  drinking,  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage,  until  the  day 
that  Noe  entered  into  the  ark,  and  knew  not  until  the  Flood 
came,"  a  picture  that  implies  the  utter  absence  of  any  thing 
like  real  religion,  from  the  hearts  and  the  cares  and  the 
anxieties  of  the  antediluvian  population ;  and  no  doubt  they 
were  saying  then,  as  men  say  now,  "  All  things  continue  as 
they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation."  How  start- 
ling to  their  atheistic  hopes  must  have  been  this  voice,  clear 
and  piercing,  ringing  amid  a  thoughtless  population,  "  Be- 
hold, the  Lord  cometh  with  ten  thousands  of  his  vsaints,  to 
execute  judgment  upon  all ! "  This  voice  of  Enoch  must 
have  sounded  to  the  antediluvian  sinners  exactly  as  the 
warning  of  our  Lord  in  the  parable  sounded  to  the  fool 
while  he  was  saying,  "  I  have  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
years," — "Thou  fool,  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required 
of  thee."  In  an  age  when  dishonesty  was  promising  gain, 
when  vanity  was  promising  distinction,  when  ambition  was 
promising  place  and  power,  when  unbelief  was  promising 
safety,  God's  word,  louder  and  stronger  than  them  all,  pro- 
claimed, "  The  Lord  cometh  to  execute  judgment  upon  all 
the  ungodly." 

Now  such  a  warning  voice  as  this  is  no  less  needed  now. 
It  is  literally,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  more  true  now 
than  it  was  then.  Every  day  that  shuts  down  upon  the 
earth  brings  us  one  notch  nearer  that  epoch,  when  the  Lord 
shall  come  with  ten  thousands  of  his  saints ;  and  every  year 


286  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

as  it  closes  brings  us  a  greater  stage  nearer  to  that  day  of 
the  Lord,  when  the  heavens  and  the  earth  shall  be  on  fire, 
and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  and  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth  shall  emerge,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness.  Every  one  knows  how  prone  poor  humanity 
is,  even  in  its  best,  that  is,  its  Christian  aspect,  to  settle 
down  and  say,  "  Two  or  three  years  ago,  five  or  six  years 
ago,  I  thought  we  were  on  the  eve  of  great  things ;  I  thought 
that  the  earth  was  quaking,  and  all  things  agitated  and  dis- 
organized, preparatory  to  the  advent  of  Him  who  shall 
readjust,  reorder,  and  reharmonize  all ;  but  now  all  things 
continue  as  they  were :  since  the  fathers  slept  there  is  no 
change.  Nature  still  pursues  her  course,  the  sun  still  ris§s, 
and  stars  still  come,  and  all  things  continue  as  they  were." 
"We  need  a  booming  sound  borne  across  the  waters  from  the 
continent  of  Europe,  from  nations  still  agitated,  seething, 
and  convulsed,  to  give  us,  like  a  premonitory  warning  from 
heaven,  a  presign  how  frail  is  the  crust  on  which  we  stand ; 
how  many,  how  deep,  and  how  terrific  are  the  powers  that 
are  sleeping,  not  extinguished  or  destroyed,  beneath  it. 

But  it  is  refreshing  to  recollect,  that  what  is  fitted  to  awe 
an  ungodly  and  a  thoughtless  world,  is  calculated  only 
to  give  consolation  to  the  people  of  God.  Enoch  felt  no 
dismay,  because  he  believed  his  own  prophecy;  his  heart 
beat  calm  in  the  prospect  of  it;  and  those  saints  who 
shared  in  Enoch's  piety  were  conscious  of  no  feelings  of 
awe.  Or  alarm,  or  dismay,  because  they  anticipated  the  sure 
fulfilment  of  Enoch's  solemn  prophecy.  It  is  so  now;  those 
who  may  be  justly  agitated  by  the  prospect  of  approaching 
doom,  are  not  the  people  of  God.  They  stand  loose  to  the 
world;  their  repose  is  not  on  its  breast,  they  rest  on  the 
Rock  of  ages,  and  feel  perfectly  sure  that  "though  the 
earth  be  removed,  and  though  the  mountains  be  carried 
into  the  midst  of  the  sea,  though  the  waters  thereof  roar 


Enoch's  prophecy.  287 

and  be  troubled,  though  the  mountains  shake  with  the 
swelling  thereof;  there  is  a  river,  the  streams  whereof  shall 
make  glad  the  city  of  God,  the  holy  place  of  the  taberna- 
cles of  the  Most  High.  God  is  in  the  midst  of  her ;  she 
shall  not  be  moved;  God  shall  help  her,  and  that  right 
early."  Therefore  the  believer  can  say  to  his  own  heart, 
"  Be  still ; "  as  God  now  says  to  him,  "  Be  still,  and  know 
that  I  am  God ;  I  will  be  exalted  among  the  heathen,  I  will 
be  exalted  in  the  earth."  The  ungodly  may  tremble, 
Enoch's  prophecy  is  the  knell  of  their  doom.  It  appears 
all  dark  to  them,  it  reflects  only  sunshine  to  the  people  of 
God ;  it  is  the  savor  of  death  to  the  sinner,  the  savor  of  life 
to  the  Christian.  The  Lord  cometh  in  majesty,  but  yet  in 
mercy,  taking  vengeance  upon  them  that  know  him  not,  but 
gathering  to  himself,  far  beyond  the  reach  of  scathe  or 
injury,  those  who  have  washed  their  robes  and  made  them 
white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  In  the  heart  of  the 
believer,  it  is  the  day  of  his  glorious  conquest,  the  com- 
mencement of  his  true,  his  joyous  life;  the  day  when  all 
perplexities  shall  be  cleared  up,  when  the  troubler  shall  no 
longer  have  power,  and  the  troubled  shall  no  longer  have 
pain,  when  God  shall  extinguish  the  springs  of  sorrow,  and 
wipe  away  all  tears  from  all  eyes,  and  we,  removed  for  ever 
from  contact  with  sin,  shall  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord.  The 
aspect  of  the  text  depends  very  much  upon  the  character 
of  the  reader.  This  prophecy  of  coming  judgment  comes 
like  the  knell  of  doom,  where  it  is  believed,  to  the  unre- 
newed; but  to  the  children  of  God  it  sounds  as  the  first 
note  of  their  sure  and  approaching  jubilee.  They  feel 
perfect  peace  in  the  prospect  of  it.     Do  we  ? 

What  a  contrast  will  be  presented  to  his  previous  state, 
when  the  Lord  shall  come  with  ten  thousands  of  bis  saints ! 
Once  a  sufferer,  now  a  triumphant  King.  Once  in  a 
manger,  now  upon  a  throne.     Once  weeping  for  us,  suffer- 


288  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

ing  in  our  stead,  dying  for  our  salvation ;  now,  to  them  who 
look  for  him,  does  he  come  wearing  many  crowns,  robed  in 
majesty,  the  second  time  without  sin  unto  salvation.  The 
contrast  between  Christ's  first  advent  and  his  second 
advent  is  entire;  and  yet  both  advents,  the  sorrowful  and 
the  triumphant,  are  to  a  believer  only  springs  of  comfort, 
of  repose,  and  peace ;  he  knows  him  in  whom  he  has 
believed. 

This  prophecy  of  Enoch  is  evidently  the  chord  that  runs 
through  all  the  prophecies  of  the  Old  and  New 'Testament 
Scriptures:  it  seems  to  have  been  the  basis  or  suggestive 
source  of  them  all.  It  was  the  first  se«d  sown.  The  very 
same  truths  are  expressed  by  our  Lord  himself,  when  he 
said,  "  This  gospel  of  the  kingdom  shall  be  preached  in  all 
the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all  nations ;  and  then  shall  the 
end  come : "  and  again,  when  he  stated,  "  As  the  lightning 
cometh  out  of  the  east,  and  shineth  even  unto  the  west,  so 
shall  also  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  man  be ; "  that  is,  he 
shall  come  with  all  the  unexpected  speed,  and  with  all  the 
dazzling  splendor,  of  the  lightning  flash  in  the  dark  mid- 
night, crushing  some,  but  lighting  others  home.  We  shall 
have  very  little  premonitory  symptom  of  his  immediate 
approach ;  we  know  not  when  he  comes,  we  only  know  that 
he  will  come  with  the  unexpected  speed,  as  he  will  burst 
upon  us  with  the  dazzling  splendor,  of  the  lightning  itself. 
And  "  immediately  after  the  tribulation  of  those  days  shall 
the  sun  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not  give  her  light, 
and  the  stars  shall  fall  from  heaven,  and  the  powers  of  the 
heaven  shall  be  shaken  "  —  all  thrones,  principalities,  poten- 
tates, dominions,  powers,  darkened,  shattered,  disorganized, 
broken.  Then  he  says,  *"  He  shall  send  his  angels  with  a 
great  sound  of  a  trumpet,  and  they  shall  gather  together  his 
elect  from  the  four  winds,  from  one  end  of  heaven  to  the 
other.     But  of  that  day  and  hour  knoweth  no  man ;  no,  not 


Enoch's  prophecy.  289 

the  angels  of  heaven,  but  my  Father  only."  And  because 
the  day  and  the  hour  are  not  known,  we  are  therefore 
always  to  stand  ready.  And  the  apostle  expresses  the  same 
prophecy  of  Enoch  in  another  formula,  when  he  says, 
"  Tha  Lord  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout,  with 
the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of  God: 
and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first."  He  expresses  the 
same  prophecy  in  another  formula,  when  he  tells  us,  "  The 
Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 
angels,  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know 
not  God,  and  that  obey  not  the  gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ :  who  shall  be  punished  with  everlasting  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and  from  the  glory  of  his 
power,  when  he  shall  come  to  be  glorified  in  his  saints,  and 
to  be  admired  in  all  them  that  believe  in  that  day "  —  the 
two  aspects  of  the  prophecy  constantly  presenting  Christ 
made  welcome  by  his  own,  in  whom  he  is  to  be  admired, 
while  he  will  be  manifested  and  dreaded  by  his  enemies, 
and  unexpected  by  those  who  know  not  the  gospel,  and  who 
shall  be  the  conscious  victims  of  an  iiTctrievable  destruction 
from  the  presence  of  the  Lord. 

But  the  phase  of  the  prophecy  on  which  Enoch  dwells  is 
its  more  awful  one.  He  says,  "  The  Lord  cometh  with  ten 
thousand  of  his  saints,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  ' 
convince  all  that  are  ungodly  among  them  of  all  their  un- 
godly deeds."  Who  are  these  ungodly,  who  will  be  the  sub- 
jects of  this  judgment  ?  Very  true,  they  will  be  the 
profane,  the  blaspheming,  the  atheistic,  the  infidel,  the 
immoral :  quite  true,  they  will  be  among  them.  But  those 
whom  Enoch  specially  specifies  are  not  such  only ;  they  are 
"the  ungodly."  Now  who  are  the  ungodly?  Thousands 
are  ungodly,  who  in  all  the  relationships  of  life  are  most 
exemplary.  Many  a  consistent  father,  an  excellent  hus- 
band, a  good  master,  obedient  servant,  loyal  subject,  is  yet 
25 


290  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

an  ungodly  man.  God  has  selected  here,  not  those  whom 
all  would  instantly  conclude  must  be  the  victims  of  such  a 
vconsuming  judgment,  but  a  class  to  which  so  many  uncon- 
sciously belong,  a  class  whose  sinful  peculiarities  are  so 
delicate  as  to  be  perceptible  only  to  the  spiritual  eye.  These 
fancy  all  is  right  with  them,  because  they  are  not  what  other 
men  are  —  adulterers,  di^unkards,  thieves,  and  such  like. 
The  ungodly  are  just  those  who  have  no  constant  governing 
sense  of  love,  loyalty,  or  responsibility  to  God.  They  are 
exemplary  and  excellent  in  all  the  relationships  of  life,  but 
are  overruled  by  no  influence  whatever  that  comes  from 
God.  In  short,  they  would  be  precisely  what  they  are  at 
this  moment,  if  there  were  no  God  above,  and  no  eternity 
before.  If  they  are  honest,  they  are  so  constitutionally. 
There  are  men  constituted  by  nature  with  such  a  nice  and 
keen  sense  of  integrity,  that  they  would  not  be  guilty  of  the 
least  dishonesty  on  any  terms,  or  under  the  pressure  of  any 
inducement  whatever.  And  there  are  other  men  who  have 
so  sensitive  a  sense  of  what  is  kind,  and  generous,  and  lov- 
ing, that  the  very  instincts  of  their  nature  melt  their  very 
hearts  into  sympathy  and  love.  It  is  their  nature.  They 
cannot  help  it.  All  this  is  most  beautiful.  Far  be  it  from 
me  to  say  any  thing  that  might  be  misconstrued  as  depre- 
ciating these  almost  unwithered  flowers  of  Paradise  —  these 
fair  blossoms  that  relieve  the  almost  universal  winter  of  the 
social  system.  What  we  say  is,  beautiful  as  they  are,  they 
are  not  enough.  There  is  a  relationship  to  God  that  ought 
to  be  first,  greatest,  chiefest ;  and  this  ought  to  be,  while  the 
others  ought  not  to  be  trodden  down.  They  even  will  be 
the  subjects  of  the  predicted  judgment,  and  the  first  sub- 
jects, who  are  praised  by  men,  but  unknown  to  God  —  "I 
never  knew  you ; "  who  have  been  right  in  every  earthly 
relationship,  but  wrong  in  this  heavenly  one.  For  this  pri- 
vation there  is  no  compensation.     Suppose  a  colony  were  to 


Enoch's  prophecy.  291 

revolt  from  tlie  parent  country;  and  suppose  that  colony, 
after  its  revolt  and  wilful  separation,  were  to  be  charac- 
terized by  every  thing  that  is  good  and  peaceful  and  right 
internally  —  its  homes  happy,  its  people  obedient,  and  its 
laws  observed,  and  every  thing  in  its  condition  all  that  can 
be  desired  in  a  prosperous  and  happy  land.  Suppose  these 
people,  through  their  officers,  to  plead  with  the  parent  coun- 
try from  which  it  has  wickedly  revolted,  as  their  apology, 
that  it  had  every  inner  excellence  of  quality  and  character. 
This  would  not  vindicate  their  rebellion.  And  so  with  us, 
it  is  no  excuse  for  having  left  our  relationship  to  God,  that 
we  maintain  our  relationships  to  each  other ;  because  if  we 
observe  the  last  six  commandments  of  the  decalogue  per- 
fectly, yet  the  first  four  commandments  are  surely  not  given 
simply  to  be  broken.  If  we  should  be  able  to  plead  at 
God's  judgment-seat,  "All  the  last  six  commandments  of  the 
decalogue  we  have  kept  perfectly,"  God  will  still  ask -you, 
"  But  what  have  you  done  with '  the  first  four  ?  You  have 
been  just  to  your  neighbor,  you  have  been  sober  in  your- 
self; but  you  have  not  been  godly,  that  is,  maintained  and 
fulfilled  your  relationship  to  me,  as  you  were  bound  by  my 
law  and  your  nature  to  do."  The  ungodly  are  moral  with- 
out religion ;  their  virtues  have  earthly,  not  heavenly  roots. 
Wherever  there  is  real  religion  in  the  heart,  of  course  there 
is  morality  in  the  life ;  and  if  there  be  not,  the  religion  sup- 
posed to  be  in  the  heart  is  a  pretence  and  a  delusion.  But 
there  may  be  morality  in  the  life  of  a  certain  kind,  without 
religion  in  the  heart.  All  religious  men  are  moral,  but  all 
moral  men  are  not  religious.  And,  therefore,  the  class 
which  is  specially  singled  out  here,  is  just  that  very  class 
which  man  is  least  likely  to  think  in  danger,  and  which 
consists  of  those  who  are  every  thing  that  is  beautiful  and 
just  in  the  relationships  of  time,  but  who  have  no  affinities 
with  the  everlasting;  who  live  just  as  if  there  were  no 


292  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

world  to  come,  who  have  no  sympathy  with  God,  no  felt 
relation  to  eternity,  whose  character,  in  short,  has  not  one 
element  in  it  created  by  a  deep  and  pervading  sense  of  love 
and  responsibihty  to  that  God  who  made  us,  and  gave  his 
Son  to  die  for  us.  Thus  we  can  understand  alike  the  guilt 
and  nature  of  the  class  singled  out  here  as  the  first  subjects 
of  the  visitation ;  and  if  they  perish,  what  shall  be  the  end 
of  the  rest  ? 

There  are  indeed  but  two  great  comprehensive  classes 
that  constantly  exist,  and  that  will  appear  at  the  judgment- 
day  just  as  they  have  been,  —  the  godly  and  the  ungodly, 
with  their  shades  of  character.  At  that  day  all  distinctions 
are  either  merged  in  this,  or  they  are  barely  appreciated  by 
Him  who  sits  upon  the  throne  of  judgment.  "VYe  are  so 
prone  to  intrench  ourselves  within  a  party,  or  a  sect,  or  a 
denomination,  and  to  fancy  that  because  we  belong  to  that 
party  and  are  surrounded  by  the  laws  and  the  bulwarks  of 
that  sect,  that  therefore  we  cannot  be  wrong ;  that  we  need 
frequently  to  be  warned  that  the  distinctions  which  God 
recognizes  are  these  which  ecclesiastics  never  deal  with; 
that  the  distinctions  that  will  last  and  live  and  appear  sharp 
and  clearly  defined  at  the  judgment-day,  are  these,  —  the 
godly  and  the  ungodly,  the  saint  and  the  sinner.  The 
bound  lines  that  we  draw,  will  all  be  swept  as  wave  marks 
on  the  sea  sand  by  the  flowing  tide ;  but  the  great  bound 
lines  that  have  been  since  Paradise,  will  last  till  the  judg- 
ment-day, and  will  appear  again.  It  is  not  therefore  an  out- 
ward name,  however  musical,  that  will  shelter  us.  It  is  not 
a  mere  connection  with  a  class,  a  party,  or  a  sect,  that  will 
save  us.  The  question  at  the  judgment-day  will  not  be, 
whence  we  come,  or  what  we  are  called,  or  of  what  family 
we  are;  but  who  we  are,  and  on  whom  we  stand,  and 
whether  grace  —  sovereign  grace  —  has  transformed  us. 

Let  us  be  therefore  more  intent  on  building  up  an  inner 


Enoch's  PEOPnECT.  293 

life  than  an  outer  one.  Let  us  be  more  anxious  to  belong- 
clearly  and  unmistakably  to  the  class  of  saints,  than  to  some 
sublunary  coterie,  or  ecclesiastical  distinction  or  order,  upon 
earth.  The  only  two  successions  that  have  never  failed, 
that  began  in  Paradise  lost,  and  that  will  reach  the  very 
margin  of  Paradise  regained,  are  sinners  by  nature,  and 
saints  by  grace. 

In  this  solemn  prophecy,  it  is  predicted  that  he  shall 
judge  them  for  all  their  ungodly  words  which  they  have 
ungodly  spoken,  and  for  all  their  ungodly  deeds  which  they 
have  ungodly  committed.  A  word  once  spoken  goes  on 
repeating  itself  for  ever,  a  deed  once  done  never  can  cease 
its  reverberations  in  this  dispensation ;  by  a  law  of  science 
the  word  that  now  comes  from  my  lips  will  be  reflected  and 
reverberated  round  and  round  the  globe,  till  hushed  at  the 
eve  of  the  judgment-day.  Our  senses  are  so  blunt,  that  we 
cannot  perceive  the  more  delicate  vibrations ;  but  that  does 
not  make  those  vibrations  cease  to  be.  This  will  explain  a 
thousand  statements  in  the  word  of  God.  At  that  day  we 
shall  hear  with  awful  dismay,  if  among  the  lost,  the  guilty 
words  we  spoke,  the  unholy  whispers  we  breathed,  and  the 
vibrations  of  all  the  deeds  we  have  done,  loud,  clear,  and 
piercing ;  the  very  atmosphere  will  be  the  register  and  even  • 
whispering  gallery  of  all  we  said ;  and  the  very  earth,  the 
page  on  which  will  be  written  all  we  did ;  and  we  shall  see 
ourselves  at  that  day  reflected  and  repeated  from  all  things 
around  us.  If  this  be  so,  if  all  the  ungodly  deeds  that 
ungodly  men  have  done,  and  all  the  ungodly  words  that 
ungodly  men  have  spoken,  are  to  come  up  in  retributive 
responses,  in  manifold  reflections,  what  a  solemn  meeting 
will  a  judgment-day  be !  But  their  sins  will  not  come  up 
on  a  judgment-day  to  God's  people.  There  is  a  voice  that 
"  speaketh  better  things  than  the  blood  of  Abel,"  and  that  is 
the  blood  of  Jesus ;  and  that  sound  will  absorb  all  sounds 
25  * 


294  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

of  sin  and  sorrow  whatever :  and  there  is  an  efficacy  in  that 
precious  blood,  so  real,  so  vital,  so  powerful,  that  it  will 
cleanse  the  earth  as  it  cleanseth  the  heart  from  all  the  traces 
and  the  records  of  our  transgression.  Nothing  but  the  for- 
giveness of  our  sins  through  the  blood  of  Jesus  will  stop  the 
resurrection  of  our  sins,  or  deaden  and  destroy  the  echoes 
of  our  evil.  Nothing  but  pardon  now  can  extinguish  the 
certainty  of  our  meeting,  and  meeting  in  dismay,  our  sins 
and  our  transgressions  again.  Do  we  desire  that  that  word 
once  spoken  by  us,  which  we  would  give  all  the  world  to 
recall,  may  never  rise  from  the  dead,  let  us  appeal  to  the 
voice  of  the  blood  of  Jesus  that  speaketh  better  things  than 
the  blood  of  Abel.  If  we  wish  that  that  deed  which  we 
have  done,  the  lineaments  of  which  are  engraven  upon 
memory,  and  the  reflection  of  which  is  upon  the  earth  on 
which  we  tread,  a  dark  and  ominous  spectre,  and  upon  the 
sky  on  which  we  look,  a  deepening  cloud,  though  our  blunt 
senses  cannot  now  see  it ;  if  we  wish  that  the  original  should 
be  blotted  out  from  memory,  and  that  the  reflection  may  be 
blotted  out  from  the  earth,  behold  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ 
that  "  cleanseth  from  all  sin."  If  we  will  not  take  the  gos- 
pel's grand  provisions,  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  hear, 
reverberating  in  everlasting  crashes  of  thunder,  words  that 
we  would  not  now  should  be  heard  for  worlds ;  and  to  see, 
revealed  in  the  lightning  in  which  the  Judge  comes,  deeds 
that  we  would  give  worlds  now  to  be  expunged  for  ever. 
They  that  will  not  accept  the  gospel  of  Jesus,  must  meet 
him  as  they  are  with  the  deep  graven  lines  of  their  trans- 
gressions upon  them,  and  the  dread  reverberations  of  their 
own  ungodly  words  around  them,  saying,  "  Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  not  to  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not  to  me;'* 
"  Depart,  ye  cursed,  into  everlasting  fire,  prepared  for  the 
devil  and  his  angels."  This  is  the  only  alternative.  We 
must  be  Christians,  or  brave  the  issue. 


Enoch's  PRorHECY.  295 

Every  day  as  it  closes  brings  us  nearer  to  the  time  when 
this  great  prophecy  of  Enoch  will  be  realized.  Scenes  are 
coming  successively  within  the  horizon  that  the  most  casual 
observer  cannot  be  blind  to.  I  expressed  my  conviction 
that  in  1848  the  seventh  vial  began  to  be  poured  out ;  that 
there  was  then  the  commencement  of  "the  great  earth- 
quake," when  "great  Babylon"  should  come  "in  remem- 
brance before  God ; "  and  when  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth 
should  be  disorganized,  to  make  way  for  a  kingdom  that 
cannot  be  moved.  (Rev.  xvi.  17-21.)  The  first  shock 
of  the  earthquake  occurred  in  1848.  We  are  just  upon 
the  eve,  as  far  as  one  can  gather  from  the  shadows  of 
coming  events,  of  a  more  terrific  one.  Ask  statesmen,  ask 
those  who  are  competent  to  give  an  opinion,  what  they 
think  of  the  aspect  of  continental  Europe  at  the  present 
moment.  There  is  not  a  kingdom  over  the  continent  that 
does  not  rock ;  there  is  not  a  throne  in  Europe  that  is  any 
more  secure  by  being  defended  by  bayonets  than  it  was 
before ;  there  is  not  a  population  in  Europe  that  is  not  at 
this  moment  seething  and  restless  under  an  undefined 
impression  of  possibilities  that  cannot  be,  or  under  an 
assured  conviction  of  the  need  of  events  and  changes  that 
they  think  ought  to  be.  Very  solemn  is  the  period  at 
which  we  stand.  Very  soon,  in  all  likelihood,  Europe  will 
be  blazing  around  us,  its  cities  the  volcanic  mouths  and 
craters  of  the  pent  up  elements  of  ruin.  Very  soon,  days 
of  trial  and  of  trouble  such  as  have  not  been  since  the 
beginning  will  overtake  us.  When  they  do  come,  none  will 
stand  the  ordeal  of  that  day  but  they  who  are  Christ's 
people,  not  by  name,  but  in  deed  and  in  truth. 

And  while  there  are  many  things  that  will  be  very  dark 
in  that  day,  one  can  see,  striking  through  the  gloom,  rays 
of  bright  hope  and  of  coming  glory.  That  very  earth- 
quake that  will  disorganize  kingdoms,  bury  proud  capitals, 


296  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

and  agitate  the  world,  carries  with  it,  like  a  mill-stone  into 
the  sea,  great  Babylon  that  pollutes  the  earth.  I  have  no 
more  fear  that  the  Romish  Apostasy  will  gain  the  suprem- 
acy in  this  land,  than  I  have  that  Mahometanism  will.  I 
believe  it  is  now  plunging  in  its  last  spasmodic  convulsions. 
It  wiU,  like  a  dying  maniac,  put  forth  its  most  tremendous 
energies  in  its  last  struggle,  but  its  fury  is  the  evidence 
of  its  last  moments ;  in  spite  of  all,  it  will  go  down  like  a 
mill-stone  into  the  sea,  and  shaH  be  heard  and  seen  no  more 
at  all.  And  the  Jews  will  begin  to  look  at  their  long  lost 
home,  already  setting  their  hearts  upon  Palestine.  And 
Christian  men  will  begin  more  than  ever  to  let  go  the 
distinctions  which  they  have  worn,  and  to  think  only  of  the 
glorious  and  lasting  and  vital  features  that  characterize  and 
stamp  all  the  people  of  God.  But  amid  all  the  havoc  and 
obscurity  of  coming  conflict,  we  can  see  —  and  therefore  we 
lift  up  our  heads  because  our  redemption  draweth  nigh  — 
emerging  from  beneath  the  horizon,  the  Sun  of  righteous- 
ness, who  shall  arise  with  "healing  in  his  wings  to  them  that 
fear  him,  and  that  look  for  him  the  second  time,  without  sin 
unto  salvation. 

The  nearer  that  the  time  for  these  things  is,  the  busier 
we  ought  to  be.  If  we  want  to  keep  our  estates,  let  us  lay 
them  out.  If  you  want  to  be  rich,  give.  If  you  want  to 
be  strong,  expend  your  strength.  If  you  want  to  be  really 
built  up  in  your  faith,  try  to  build  up  others  in  their  most 
holy  faith.  The  shorter  the  time  that  remains,  the  more  we 
have  to  do.  Charge  every  hour  that  lasts  with  intenser 
feeling.  Crowd  into  every  day  that  remains  acts  of  greater 
beneficence.  Concentrate  every  energy,  seek  to  be  useful, 
determine  to  make  men  better  for  your  having  been  in  the 
world.  The  light  will  soon  be  out,  the  day  will  soon  be 
done,  the  night  cometh  when  no  man  can  work.  And  if  we 
be  God's  people,  the  nearer  we  ai-e  to  the  Lord's  coming 


Enoch's  prophecy.  297 

with  ten  thousand  of  his  saints,  the  more  busily  we  shall  be 
getting  ready  to  meet  him.  Blessed  is  that  servant  whom, 
when  his  Lord  cometh,  he  findeth  busy  in  his  Lord's  vine- 
yard, and  in  his  Lord's  employment.  And  then,  blessed 
result !  as  the  issue  of  it,  all  creation  shall  be  emancipated 
from  its  bondage.  The  repressive  curse  that  weighs  down 
Eden  beneath  us,  and  prevents  its  bursting  out  into  flower 
and  blossom,  will  be  removed ;  the  desert  will  become  green, 
the  wilderness  will  blossom  as  the  spring  of  Paradise,  and 
nature  will  be  fairer  in  her  last  robes  than  she  was  in  her 
first.  And,  in  the  next  place,  the  brute  creation  shall  be 
restored  and  emancipated  from  their  bondage.  The  whole 
creation,  says  the  apostle,  groans  and  travails  in  pain,  wait- 
ing to  be  delivered.  Man  makes  use  of  the  bad  instincts 
of  the  brute  creation  —  instincts  from  beneath,  not  from 
above  —  in  order  to  promote  his  own  sinful  or  thoughtless 
purposes ;  but  a  day  comes  when  these,  too,  shall  be  re- 
stored, "  and  the  wolf  shall  dwell  with  the  lamb,  and  the 
leopard  shall  lie  down  with  the  kid ;  and  the  calf  and  the 
young  lion  and  the  fatling  together ;  and  a  little  child  shall 
lead  them.  And  the  cow  and  the  bear  shall  feed ;  their 
young  ones  shall  lie  down  together :  and  the  lion  shall  eat 
straw  like  the  ox.  And  the  sucking  child  shall  play  on  the 
hole  of  the  asp,  and  the  weaned  child  shall  put  his  hand  on 
the  cockatrice'  den.  And  they  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy 
in  all  my  holy  mountain :  for  the  earth  shall  be  full  of  the 
knowledge  of  the  Lord,  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea." 
Then,  too,  the  sons  of  God,  when  the  Lord  comes  with  ten 
thousand  of  his  saints,  shall  be  manifested ;  the  tabernacle 
of  God  shall  then  be  with  men ;  God  shall  then  wipe  away 
all  tears  from  all  eyes ;  Enoch's  grand  prophecy  shall  be 
lost  in  John's  grander  Apocalypse ;  the  genesis  of  Moses 
shall  be  merged  in  the  regenesis  of  the  Revelation;  all 
things  shall  be  made  new,  and  God  will  again  apj^figU^liie 


298  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

midst  of  a  better  Eden,  and  speak  with  man  at  eventide,  no 
longer  a  refugee  from  him  under  the  consciousness  of  sin, 
but  his  son,  his  friend ;  reclaimed,  restored,  regenerated,  — 
all  things  made  new.  When  the  Lord  shall  thus  come  with 
his  saints,  taking  vengeance  on  them  that  know  him  not, 
may  we  be  spared  and  kept,  as  a  man  spareth  his  son  that 
serveth  him,  and  be  found  among  his  jewels  on  that  day. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 


ENOCH  S    CKEED* 

" '  There  is  no  God,'  the  foolish  saith, 
But  none,  '  There  is  no  sorrow : ' 
And  Nature  oft  the  cry  of  faith 
In  bitter  need  will  borrow. 

"  Eyes,  which  the  preacher  could  not  school, 
By  way-side  graves  are  raised ; 
And  lips  say,_ '  God  be  pitiful,' 
That  ne'er  said,  '  God  be  praised.' " 

"  But  without  faith  zi  is  impossible  to  please  Mm:  for  he  that  cometh  to 
God  must  believe  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  him."  — Hebrews  xi.  6. 

The  apostle  draws  the  inference  embodied  in  these-  words, 
from  the  statement  he  had  made  respecting  Enoch,  who  was 
translated,  and  who  had  this  testimony  that  he  pleased  God. 
The  inference  he  makes  from  this  is,  that  if  Enoch  pleased 
God,  he  must  have  had  faith ;  that  same  faith  which  he,  the 
apostle,  had  in  Christ  the  Saviour,  —  for  without  faith,  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God.  Without  this  grace,  whatever 
excellency  we  may  have,  we  cannot  please  him.  We  may 
be  the  most  learned,  the  most  eloquent,  the  most  wealthy, 
or  the  most  renowned,  it  matters  not,  without  that  faith 
which  gives  to  every  grace  its  excellency,  to  all  fruits  their 
flavor,  and  to  all  flowers  their  tints,  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God.  It  is  faith,  however,  not  in  a  proposition,  but  in  him 
who  proposes  it.     The  faith  of  a  Christian  is  not  built  upon 


300  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

a  series  of  arguments  that  make  out  a  certain  conclusion ; 
but  simply  upon  this,  Thus  saith  the  Lord.  We  accept  the 
proposal,  not  because  we  can  prove  it,  —  this  the  mathema- 
tician does ;  but  because  God  says  it,  —  this  the  Christian 
does.  We  may  prove  a  proposition  contained  in  Scripture 
on  independent  data,  and  there  is  no  sin  in  doing  so ;  but 
we  must  never  let  go  this  inner  and  vital  fact,  that  we 
receive  the  proposition  simply  because  God  says  it,  and 
upon  his  authority  alone.  Faith,  then,  is  not  in  reason,  nor 
in  the  church,  nor  in  authority,  nor  in  antiquity,  nor  in 
numbers,  nor  in  the  fathers ;  but  simply  in  Christ  Jesus, 
than  whom  there  is  none  other  by  whom  we  may  be  saved. 

Without  this  faith,  it  is  impossible  to  please  God.  The 
very  question,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? "  has  only 
one  answer  to  it,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and 
thou  shalt  be  saved;"  or.  Have  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  and  thou  shalt  please  God.  If,  then,  without  faith 
in  him  it  is  impossible  to  be  saved,  without  faith  in  him  it  is 
impossible  to  please  God.  Christ  is  the  way  in  which 
Enoch  walked,  and  without  believing  in  Jesus  we  cannot 
enter  upon  that  way  which  Christ  is.  Without  faith  in 
Christ,  we  are  not  in  the  way  that  leads  to  heaven ;  we 
cannot,  therefore,  walk  with  God;  we  cannot,  therefore, 
please  God. 

Without  faith  in  Christ,  we  cannot  have  that  natural 
disposition  which  is  declared  to  be  "  enmity  to  God  '* 
extracted,  and  that  true  disposition  which  is  declared  to  be 
love  to  God  implanted  in  its  place.  The  apostle  himself 
tells  us  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  They  that  are  in  the 
flesh,  they  that  are  carnal,  unconverted,  unregenerate,  can- 
not please  God.  Between  God  and  us,  in  such  a  state, 
there  can  be  no  coincidence  of  walk ;  there  can  be  no  unity 
of  design ;  there  can  be  no  harmony  of  nature ;  there  can 
be  no  identity  of  object :  we  are  at  issue ;  we  are  opposed 


Enoch's  creed.  801 

to  each  other :  and  until  a  man  be  regenerated  by  that  Holy 
Spirit  which  is  given  only  to  them  who  believe  in  Jesus, 
and  ask  that  gift  in  his  name,  it  is  impossible  that  he  can 
please  God.  So  that,  to  please  him,  or  to  walk  with  him, 
we  must  have  a  change  in  state  that  is  secured  by  the 
righteousness  of  Jesus,  and  we  must  have  a  change  of 
nature  which  is  produced  by  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit ; 
and  without  that  change  of  state  which  introduces  us  to  a 
new  way,  and  that  change  of  nature  which  gives  us  a  new 
love  and  aim  and  end  in  walking  in  that  way,  we  cannot 
please  God. 

But  the  apostle  gives  the  reasons  and  the  grounds  for  his 
conclusion,  in  these  words,  "  He  that  cometh  to  God  must 
believe  that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  him."  Let  us  look  at  these  propositions 
thus  early  received :  first,  at  the  belief  that  God  is ; 
secondly,  at  the  belief  that  God  is  a  rewarder ;  thirdly,  at 
the  character  of  those  who  exercise  that  faith ;  who  thus 
like  Enoch  believe,  namely,  that  they  "  come  to  God,"  that 
they  "  diligently  seek  him."  We  have  three  great  proposi- 
tions :  first,  God's  being ;  secondly,  God's  being,  discovered 
by  man's  faith,  developed  in  God's  bounty,  in  our  belief 
that  he  is  a  rewarder ;  thirdly,  the  nature  of  faith  analyzed 
and  explained  by  this  description,  that  he  who  has  it  comes 
to  God,  and  that  he  diligently  seeks  him. 

The  first  proposition  that  comes  before  us,  as  the  object 
of  faith,  is,  that  God  is. 

We  are  not  left  wholly  to  the  Bible  for  this  conclusion 
that  God  is.  Conscience  from  its  depths  protests  against 
the  atheistic  wish.  No  God,  — "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his 
heart.  No  God."  In  the  depths  of  man's  conscience,  even, 
when  it  is  most  diseased,  there  is  felt — not  seen,  but  felt  — 
a  law ;  and  if  a  law  and  penalties,  a  lawgiver  who  gave  the 
law,  and  will  inflict  the  penalties.  Man's  conscience  comes 
26 


302  THE   CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

to  the  conclusion  —  that  there  is  a  God,  try  to  distort  it, 
fend  it  off,  keep  it  down,  as  he  likes ;  every  man  knows  that 
there  are  moments  when  fears,  hopes,  and  trembling  anxie- 
ties about  the  future  and  his  relationship  to  God,  bubble 
up  from  the  depths  of  the  conscience,  and  indicate  the 
terrible  chaos  of  thought,  feeling,  and  anxiety  that  are 
below. 

Not  only  does  conscience  say,  There  is  a  God  ;  but  there 
is  scarcely  a  nation  upon  earth  that  has  been  discovered, 
even  in  the  most  barbarous  nooks  of  it,  that  has  not  some 
idea  of  something  superior  to  man,  who  controls  man,  and 
who  may  be,  and  ought  to  be,  propitiated  by  man.  They 
may  have  very  wrong,  very  absurd,  very  corrupt  concep- 
tions and  definitions  of  God ;  but  that  they  acknowledge 
the  existence  of  a  God,  or  of  something  superior  to  man, 
is  the  result  of  every  inquiry  into  their  circumstances.  It 
has  been  often  thought  that  a  conviction  so  universal,  that 
has  lasted  so  long,  must  be  true.  If  it  were  not  an  instinct 
in  the  human  heart,  it  would  have  been  worn  out  long  ere 
now ;  but  because  it  is  an  instinct  that  God  has  implanted 
and  fixed  there,  and  made  part  and  parcel  of  man's  very 
constitution,  man's  prejudices  and  passions  and  depravity 
have  never  yet  served,  or  succeeded,  in  utterly  exclud- 
ing it. 

Creation,  also,  testifies  to  the  existence  of  a  God.  Wher- 
ever we  find  a  house,  there  we  infer  there  must  have  been 
a  builder.  Wherever  we  see  a  watch,  we  infer  there  must 
have  been  a  watchmaker.  Wherever  I  see  a  creature,  I 
argue  there  must  have  been  a  Creator.  There  is  immense 
philosophy  in  that  psalm,  "  Pie  made  us,  not  we  ourselves." 
Wherever,  then,  I  see  effects,  there  I  must  believe  there 
has  been  a  cause.  This  book  of  nature  is  torn  and  defaced 
in  many  places ;  but  still,  even  on  its  most  mutilated  and 
defaced  fragments,  I  can   see   lingering,  unquenched,  and 


Enoch's  ckeed.  t       300 

unquenchable  remains  of  the  glories  of  a  God.  Creation 
tells  us  there  is  a  God.  All  its  elements,  from  the  pebble 
on  the  sea-shore  to  the  planet  in  the  sky,  preach  there  is  a 
God.  From  the  flower  by  the  way-side  to  the  sun  on  his 
meridian  throne,  all  things  great  and  all  things  small, 
silently,  but  irresistibly,  teach,  There  is  a  divinity  that  stirs 
within  them,  who  made  and  shaped  and  still  maintains 
them.  Truly,  it  is  a  fool,  intellectually  as  well  as  morally, 
that  concludes,  or  even  wishes.  No  God. 

It  is  impossible  for  the  very  highest  creature,  even  an 
angel,  to  come  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  no  God.  All 
that  any  creature  can  do  —  the  very  utmost  that  he  can 
reach  —  is  to  say  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  any 
thing  within  the  limited  range  of  my  experience,  that  satis- 
fies me  that  there  is  a  God.  He  must  be  a  very  stupid  or 
a  very  wicked  man,  not  to  have  discovered  in  his  own  ex- 
quisite organization,  —  in  that  heart  with  its  thousand  strings 
so  accurately  tuned  and  kept  so  wonderfully  in  harmony,  — 
the  great  Creator  must  have  originally  made  it.  He  must 
be  a  very  stupid,  or,  if  not,  a  very  depraved  man ;  but  at 
best  no  one  can  come  to  a  conclusion  broader  than  this,  that 
he  has  not  been  able  to  discover  that  there  is  a  God :  for 
how  does  he  know  that  just  ten  yards  beyond  the  horizon 
that  he  has  spanned  there  may  not  be  the  legible  demonstra- 
tions of  a  God  ?  how  does  he  know  that  just  twenty  yards 
beyond  the  ground  that  he  has  explored,  there  may  not  be 
something  that  says.  There  is  a  God?  The  man  that 
asserts,  There  is  no  God,  must  be  able  to  say,  I  have 
pierced  the  earth,  and  bored  all  its  strata ;  I  have  swept  the 
firmament,  and  penetrated  all  its  mysteries.  I  have  sounded 
every  deep,  and  risen  to  every  height,  and  searched  every 
star,  and  analyzed  every  object.  In  other  words,  the  man 
that  can  say,  There  is  no  God,  must  himself  be  God,  which 
is  an  absurdity,  and  an  inconsistency ;  ibr  if  finite,  the  very 


304  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

space  that  lie  had  not  penetrated  may  be  the  very  lesson 
book  that  tells,  There  is  a  God.  And,  therefpre,  all  that  a 
man  can  say  is,  "  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover  him ; " 
if  he  has  not  been  able  to  discover  there  is  a  God,  even 
within  the  range  of  his  own  experience,  we  repeat  it,  he 
must  be  very  blind,  or  very  unwilling.  The  eye  alone,  that 
pure  mirror,  the  ear  also,  that  wonderful  chamber  of  sound, 
the  hand  likewise,  as  one  has  proved  in  one  of  the  Bridge- 
water  Treatises  —  these  and  every  other  fragment  of 
the  human  frame  reflect  and  indicate  a  God;  and  tell  us, 
that  God  is. 

But  Enoch  goes  further  —  a  Christian  by  faith  believes 
that  there  is  a  God.  In  other  words,  he  accepts  the  exist- 
ence of  a  God,  not  as  the  conclusion  of  a  process  of  reason- 
ing, but  as  a  proposition  announced  by  God  himself.  He 
accepts  the  Bible  as  God's  book.  He  believes  God's  testi- 
mony respecting  himself;  and,  therefore,  by  faith  he  be- 
lieves that  God  is.  To  his  circumcised  ear,  every  doctrine 
in  the  Bible  is  the  mind  of  God;  every  precept  in  the 
Bible  is  the  will  of  God ;  every  promise  in  the  Bible  is  the 
bounty  of  God.  He  sees  God  in  all  things ;  he  traces  his 
foot  prints  in  all  paths  ;  he  hears  his  Father's  voice  in  all 
dispensations.  He  believes  not,  as  some  do,  that  God  was ; 
but  he  believes,  as  saints  do,  that  God  is ;  not  only  being, 
but  actually  operating ;  not  that  God  created  things,  gave 
them  an  impulse,  and  left  them  to  themselves ;  but  that  God 
created  all,  and  that  what  philosophy  calls  the  laws  of 
nature  are  but  the  continuous  touches  of  God;  but  what 
philosophy  calls  the  forces  of  nature  are  but  the  evidences 
of  God's  power  touching  all,  retuning  all  that  is  deranged, 
and  controlling  all.  Hence,  a  believer  sees  God  in  all  the 
providences  that  occur  in  all  the  chapters  of  his  history.  In 
all  great  catastrophes,  in  all  little  incidents,  in  the  upheav- 
ing of  a  kingdom,  in  the  overthrowing  of  a  throne,  in  the 


Enoch's  creed.  305 

turning  of  a  corner,  the  Christian  believes  that  God  is.  By 
faith  he  believes  that  God  is.  A  child  of  God  feels  that  he 
is  not  a  victim  of  accidents,  and  chances,  and  changes,  and 
random  vicissitudes.  He  is  embosomed  in  God,  and  God  is 
embosomed  in  his  deepest  and  dearest  convictions.  It  is 
with  him  no  naked,  abstract  piece  of  philosophy.  Thou,  God, 
seest  me ;  but  it  is  with  him  his  innermost,  his  dearest,  his 
deepest  thought.  Thou,  God,  seest  me.  Justified  by  the 
righteousness  of  Jesus,  washed  in  his  blood,  guided  by  his 
Spirit,  he  loves  to  be  with  God,  and  desires  God  to  be  with 
him ;  he  sees  all  things  in  God,  and  God  in  all  things,  and 
the  wide  world's  intricate  mechanism  "  working  for  good  to 
them  that  love  God,  and  are  the  called  according  to  his  pur- 
pose." And  thus,  the  faith  of  a  Christian  that  God  is, 
places  the  creature  in  his  lowly  place  of  adoring  humility, 
while  it  recognizes  God  in  his  lofty  sovereignty,  and  exclu- 
sive supremacy,  as  the  Controller,  the  Guardian,  and  the 
Guide  of  all.  Enoch  believed  not  only  that  God  is,  but 
that  he  is  in  Christ  the  image  of  God,  "  God  manifest  in 
the  flesh."  "  The  Word  was  made  flesh,  and  dwelt  among 
us,  and  we  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the  only  begot- 
ten." The  mere  naturalist  sees  a  God  in  nature ;  the  mere 
legislator  sees  a  God  in  law;  but  by  faith  we  see  more 
clearly,  what  Enoch  saw  more  dimly,  that  God  is  in  Christ 
not  governing  the  world  only,  nor  enunciating  law  only,  but 
reconciling  the  world  unto  himself.  It  is  only  in  Christ 
that  we  see  God  in  all  his  glory,  his  attributes  in  perfect 
harmony,  and  just  as  he  is  —  God  just,  while  he  justifies  the 
sinner  that  believes;  God  holy,  while  he  takes  the  guilty 
one  that  comes  to  him  to  his  bosom.  This  spectacle,  this 
vision,  is  only  to  be  seen  while  we  stand  where  Moses  stood, 
on  the  everlasting  Rock,  and  let  the  Lord  pass  before  us,  as 
he  proclaims  himself  the  Lord,  the  Lord  God,  merciful  and 
gracious,  longsuffering,  keeping  mercy  for  thousands,  for- 
•   26* 


306  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

giving  iniquity,  transgression,  and  sin.  Only  from  God  in 
Christ  can  we  hear  these  words,  "  I,  even  I,  am  he  that 
blotteth  out  all  thine  iniquities."  Only  of  God  in  Christ 
can  we  read  this,  "  If  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and 
just  to  forgive  us  our  sins,  and  cleanse  us  from  all  un- 
righteousness." Only  from  God  in  Christ  can  we  hear 
these  words,  "  Come,  and  let  us  reason  together ;  though 
your  sins  be  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  like  wool;  and 
though  they  be  red  like  scarlet,  they  shall  be  white  as 
snow." 

By  faith,  we  believe  that  God  is  in  nature  controlling  it, 
in  law  guarding  it,  in  Christ  reconciling  us  to  himself,  and 
blotting  out  all  our  trespasses.  By  faith  we  receive  a  vision 
of  God's  being,  infinitely  brighter  and  more  glorious  than 
any  mirror  of  that  Being  that  nature  can  furnish  even  to 
those  that  extort  her  deepest  secrets,  or  that  law  can  utter 
to  those  that  listen  with  the  holiest  and  the  most  attentive 
ear.  In  nature  God  is,  but  above  us ;  in  the  law  God  is, 
but  against  us ;  in  Christ  God  is,  but  Emmanuel,  "  God 
with  us,"  our  Father  and  our  Friend. 

But  by  faith  we  not  only  believe  that  God  is,  or  God's 
being ;  but  we  believe,  too,  in  God's  bounty,  "  that  he  is  a 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him." 

We  often  misinterpret  the  word  "reward."  Reward  is 
not  the  consequence  of  merit,  but  the  sequence  of  work. 
We  are  not  told  here  that  w^e  merit,  and  therefore  get  the 
reward;  but  that  we  work,  and  the  reward  is  graciously 
vouchsafed  to  us.  Where  the  the  word  "  reward "  is  used 
by  the  sacred  penmen,  work,  but  not  merit,  is  always 
implied.  "Now  to  him  that  worketh  is  the  reward  not 
reckoned  of  grace,  but  of  debt ;  for  to  him  that  worketh 
not,  but  belie veth  on  him  that  justifieth  the  ungodly,  his 
faith  is  accounted  for  righteousness."  Thus  speaking  of 
reward,  he  teaches  it  may  be  given  by  grace,  as  well  as  by 


Enoch's  creed.  307 

work.  We  read  in  another  passage,  "  The  reward  of  inher- 
itance ; "  but  if  it  be  inheritance,  it  cannot  be  deserved. 
"  God  said  to  Abraham,  I  am  thy  exceeding  great  reward." 
Now,  says  the  apostle,  "  Abraham  was  justified,  not  by 
works,  for  then  he  would  have  had  something  to  glory  in, 
but  was  justified  by  faith."  It  is  called  "  reward,"  to  show 
that  Christians  do  not  enter  heaven  indolent  men ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  is  said  to  be  by  grace,  to  show  that  they 
do  not  enter  heaven  as  meriting  or  self-righteous  men. 
They  run,  they  strive,  they  fight,  they  labor ;  yet  they  get 
to  heaven  not  because  they  do  so,  but  through  Christ ;  and 
yet  without  doing  so,  they  do  not  enter  into  heaven  at  all. 
Two  things  are  plain :  unless  we  strive  we  shall  not  enter ; 
unless  we  labor  we  shall  not  obtain ;  unless  we  sow  we  shall 
not  reap ;  unless  we  fight  we  shall  not  be  crowned.  And 
yet,  we  are  not  crowned  because  we  fight ;  we  do  not  reap 
because  we  sow ;  we  do  not  obtain  because  we  labor ;  but 
we  are  saved  by  grace  from  the  first  pulse  of  life  to  the  first 
enjoyment  of  glory.  The  reward,  therefore,  is  by  grace, 
and  not  of  works.  The  devils  believe;  but,  not  having  a 
promise  of  a  reward,  they  tremble.  We  believe  in  God ; 
but,  having  the  sure  promise  of  the  reward  of  the  inherit- 
ance, we  rejoice  in  hope  of  it  with  joy  unspeakable  and  full 
of  glory.  There  may  be  much  in  the  faith  which  thus 
believes  in  God,  and  believes,  not  that  he  shall  be,  but  "  that 
he  is,  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him,"  to  per- 
plex the  Christian.  David,  who  believed  this  very  propo- 
sition, that  God  was  "  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently 
seek  him,"  was  yet  so  perplexed  when  he  saw  the  wicked 
prosper,  and  the  godly  suffer,  that  he  exclaimed,  "  Surely  in 
vain  have  I  washed  my  hands  in  innocency.  It  is  plain 
that  God  is  not  a  moral  governor;  that  God  is  not  the 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him.  I  have  suffered 
for  my  religion  by  the  scorn  of  foes,  because  I  hid  it  not ; 


308  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE    FLOOD. 

but  all  this  is  entirely  in  vain,  because  God  is  not  a  rewarder 
of  them  that  diligently  seek  him."  But  he  waited ;  he  went 
into  the  sanctuary ;  he  listened  to  what  was  preached,  and 
read  there ;  and  he  discovered  that,  in  spite  of  appearances, 
"  God  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him ; "  for 
"  They  are  brought  into  desolation,  as  in  a  moment ;  they 
are  utterly  consumed  with  terrors."  They  are  placed  in 
slippery  places;  and  though  for  a  moment  the  sun  may 
seem  to  shine  upon  them,  it  is  only  that  the  darkness  that 
speedily  comes  may  seem  the  more  terrible.  We  see,  too, 
an  ancient  prophet  who  was  perplexed  and  thought  that  he 
was  cast  off;  but  who,  when  he  read  and  pondered  God's 
word  more,  said,  "Though  the  labor  of  the  olive  should 
fail,  and  the  fields  yield  no  meat,  and  there  be  no  herds  in 
the  stall,  and  every  thing  should  proclaim  that  God  is  not  a 
rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  him ;  yet  will  I  rejoice 
in  the  Lord,  and  joy  in  the  God  of  my  salvation."  If  pres- 
ent appearances  ever  indicate  to  us,  as  they  sometimes  do, 
that  God  is  not  a  rewarder  of  piety,  let  us  recollect  this  is 
not  the  day  of  judgment,  but  ih&  day  of  grace.  God  suffers 
the  wicked  occasionally  to  prosper.  In  God's  dealings  with 
us,  he  frequently  afflicts,  not  to  gratify  revenge  on  his  part ; 
but  for  our  good.  And  very  often  God's  hand  may  be 
heavy,  when  God's  heart  overflows  with  love.  Very  often 
the  blackest  cloud,  that  seems  to  us  to  be  a  perfect  eclipse, 
may  conceal  behind  it,  or  may  be  itself  the  vehicle  of,  bene- 
dictions that  are  destined  to  burst  upon  us.  You  must  not 
judge  that  God  has  ceased  to  be,  and  to  be  a  rewarder  of 
them  that  seek  him ;  because  present  appearances  are  not 
what  we  think  they  should  be.  God  deals  on  a  large  scale. 
He  arranges  things  for  great,  magnificent,  and  worthy  issues ; 
and  often  it  is  necessary  that  his  people  should  suffer  for  a 
season,  before  they  rejoice  and  be  exceeding  glad  with  their 
great  reward  in  heaven.    Yet  a  Christian's  most  afflicted 


Enoch's  creed.  809 

hours  are  often  his  sweetest  and  most  blessed.  The  day- 
time with  all  its  splendor  has  but  one  sun ;  but  when  the 
sun  sets,  and  the  night  comes,  the  whole  sky  sparkles  and 
glows  with  innumerable  stars.  A  Christian's  daytime  has 
but  one  sun ;  but  a  Christian's  time  of  sadness,  depression, 
and  affliction,  often  reveals  to  him  glories  in  the  height  and 
blessings  at  his  feet,  that  he  never  conceived,  still  less  calcu- 
lated upon;  and,  at  all  events,  whatever  be  our  present 
state,  patient  continuance  in  well-doing  is  followed  by  glory ; 
and  we  who  are  believers  may  yet  say,  "  Henceforth  there 
is  laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord, 
the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day ;  and  not  to 
me  only,  but  unto  them  also  that  love  his  appearing."  But 
rich,  or  poor,  obscure  or  renowned,  Jew  or  Gentile,  Greek 
or  barbarian,  bond  or  free,  God  is  —  where  we  do  not  see 
him ;  faith  implies  the  unseen,  or  it  is  not  faith ;  God  is, 
even  when  we  do  not  see,  even  when  we  see  the  contrary  — 
faith  still  believes  "  that  he  is  —  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  him."  And  when  perplexed  by  the  inexpli- 
cable opposition  to  this  by  occurrences  that  seem  utterly  to 
frustrate  it,  the  Christian  falls  back  on  what  the  Lord  said, 
"  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now,  but  thou  shalt  know 
hereafter." 

Let  us  look  at  the  way  in  which  this  faith  is  explained  — 
"they  that  come  to  him."  The  Christian  is  a  person  that 
"comes  to  God,"  he  is  a  person  "that  diligently  seeks 
him."  What  does  this  imply?  When  we  read  that  one 
comes  to  God,  we  see  phraseology  borrowed  from  the 
ancient  temple  service.  The  Jew,  before  he  could  present 
his  sacrifice,  had  to  come  to  the  temple  physically.  He 
must  come  from  a  distance  to  the  mercy-seat,  the  glory 
between  the  cherubim,  the  high-priest,  and  the  ever  present 
God.  The  phraseology  of  the  New  Testament  is  in  this 
borrowed  from  the    ancient  ritual   of    Levi ;    and  hence 


310  THE    CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

the  Christian  who  believes  in  God  is  said  to  "come"  to 
him. 

The  word  "come,"  implies  that  we  are  by  nature  at  a 
distance  from  God.  "We  are  described  by  the  apostle  as 
"far  off"  from  God:  by  nature  it  is  too  true  we  are  not 
near  to  God.  Sin  by  its  projectile  force  has  cast  us  out 
from  the  presence  of  God.  In  this  distant  position,  we  are 
not  only  far  from  God,  but  we  are  disinclined  to  go  to  God. 
We  are  worse  than  far  off;  we  are  enmity  and  opposition 
to  God.  So  strong  is  this  enmity  to  God  in  the  bosom 
of  the  most  amiable,  the  most  gentle,  the  most  courteous 
and  accomplished  by  nature,  that  it  needs  Omnipotence  to 
overcome  it ;  for  "  no  man  can  come  to  me,  except  the 
Father  which  hath  sent  me  draw  him."  The  lost  sheep 
needs  to  be  gone  after  by  the  shepherd,  and,  when  the 
shepherd  has  found  it,  would  you  not  suppose  it  would 
gratefully  follow  him  till  it  reached  the  fold  ?  Alas !  before 
that  lost  sheep,  after  it  has  been  found,  can  be  brought  back 
to  the  fold,  it  must  be  put  upon  the  shepherd's  shoulder, 
and  carried  home.  We  need  not  only  to  be  discovered, 
detected  in  our  hiding,  to  be  found  by  the  Shepherd  who 
first  seeks  us;  but  in  every  step  and  movement  of  our 
journey  forward,  to  be  carried  on  the  shoulder  of  him  that 
has  discovered  us.  In  other  words,  we  need  not  only 
omnipresent  love  to  search  for  us  in  our  hiding ;  but  we 
need  omnipotent  power  to  carry  us  home,  before  we  can 
reach  the  fold.  A  Christian  who  believed,  who  was  con- 
verted, thirty  years  ago,  needs  as  much  grace  to  keep  him 
right  this  year,  as  he  needed  to  keep  him  right  thirty  years 
ago. 

We  need  grace  to  put  us  in  the  right  way,  and  we  need 
no  less  the  same  grace  to  keep  us  there.  The  impression, 
and  the  semiatheistic  notion,  of  some  is,  that  God  formed 
the  world,  gave  it  a  projectile  impulse,  and  that,  from  the 


Enoch's  creed.  311 

force  of  that  impulse,  it  has  rolled  in  its  orbit  ever  since 
and  some  Christians  seem  to  fall  into  an  analogous  error  — - 
that  God  set  them  going  thirty  years  ago,  and  that  now 
they  must  continue  under  their  first  momentum  in  the  same 
way  of  their  own  strength.  God  created  the  world,  and  he 
controls  it.  God  discovers  the  sinner,  and  conducts  the 
sinner  home  ;  he  acts,  as  truly  as  acted.  The  heart  beats, 
not  because  God  wound  it  up  and  set  it  going,  but  because 
he  touches  it  every  moment;  and  the  regenerated  heart 
loves,  not  only  because  God  set  it  loving,  but  because  he 
keeps  it  loving  all  the  day  long.  In  him,  by  nature,  we 
live  and  have  our  being ;  in  him,  by  grace,  we  live,  and 
move,  and  have  our  redemption.  "We  need  not  only  to  be 
discovered  in  our  distance  from  God,  but  to  be  sustained  at 
every  step  in  our  journey  home  to  God. 

But  how  are  we  to  come  to  him?  There  is  but  one 
way ;  there  is  no  name  under  heaven  but  one :  "  No  man 
Cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  me."  Christ  suffered  for 
sin,  "  the  just  for  the  unjust,"  to  bring  us  to  God.  "  Him 
that  Cometh  to  me,  I  will  in  nowise  cast  out;"  and  "we 
have  boldness  by  a  new  and  living  way,  which  he  hath 
consecrated  for  us  by  his  own  blood."  Hear,  then,  this 
great  truth,  that  there  is  but  one  way  to  heaven.  Chris- 
tianity is  most  exclusive  in  one  respect:  it  is  most  large, 
liberal,  and  comprehensive  in  another.  It  proclaims  with 
earnest  exclusiveness.  There  is  but  one  way  to  heaven.  It 
matters  not  how  near  to  it  you  are,  or  how  often  you 
may  cross  it ;  if  you  do  not  walk  in  it  you  cannot  reach 
heaven. 

We  must  come  to  God  by  Christ,  the  way,  the  only  way ; 
and,  coming  thus,  and  thus  only,  we  learn  that  he  is.  The 
gospel  is  not  a  theory ;  it  is  experience.  They  that  come  to 
God  learn  that  he  is.  How  precious  is  this !  We  go  to 
God  with  the  supposition  that  he  is ;  we  retire  from  God 


312  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

with  the  demonstration  that  he.  is.  "We  go  to  God  believing 
that  he  is ;  and  we  remain  with  God  experiencing  in  our 
hearts  that  he  is.  Thus,  experiment  leads  unto  experience ; 
experience  leads  unto  more  faith ;  faith  leads  unto  assur- 
ance; and  assurance  unto  quietness  for  ever.  The  true 
credential  of  Christianity  is  in  the  believer's  own  bosom. 
No  man  ever  read  the  Bible  diligently,  dispassionately, 
prayerfully,  without  detecting,  scarcely  latent,  under  every 
leaf  of  this  Tree  of  Life,  the  evidence  of  the  glory  and  the 
inspiration  of  God.  No  man  ever  earnestly  ventured  on 
Christianity,  trying  to  make  the  experiment  of  its  reality, 
without  experiencing,  in  the  long  run,  that  it  is  the  wisdom 
of  God,  and  that  it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation. 

I  must  notice  another  definition  of  this  faith.  It  is,  we 
"  diligently  seek  him."  We  are  to  seek  him  with  the  whole 
heart.  Seek  him  with  the  same  intensity  with  which  men 
seek  profit  in  business,  success  in  their  efforts,  honor,  or 
whatever  else  the  world  sets  out  in  pursuit  of.  Let  us  seek 
God  as  diligently,  as  earnestly,  as  the  world  seeks  its  own. 

We  are  to  seek  him,  first  of  all,  in  his  own  blessed  word. 
The  Bible  is  the  oracle  of  truth,  the  very  likeness  of  God. 
It  is  the  exactest  mirror  and  representation  of  Deity ;  not 
in  stone,  nor  carved  in  wood ;  but  in  eloquent  words,  pure, 
vivid,  living  ideas.  This  blessed  book  you  may  rever- 
ence, love,  appreciate  as  gold,  you  may  taste  as  having  the 
sweetness  of  honey ;  you  may  do  every  thing  in  admiration 
of  the  Bible,  but  worship  it.  Roman  Catholics  have  wor- 
shipped images,  and  statues,  and  rags,  and  relics,  and  even 
human  heads  —  is  it  not  strange  that  they  never  thought  of 
worshipping  the  Bible,  which,  after  all,  is  the  truest  likeness 
of  God  ?  They  dared  not  worship  it ;  because,  if  they 
made  the  attempt,  fire  would  have  rushed  from  the  mouth 
of  this  witness,  and  revealed  to  their  confusion,  "  It  is  writ- 
ten, Thou  shalt  worship  the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only 


Enoch's  creed.  313 

shalt  thou  serve."  This  blessed  book  is  to  be  loved,  to  be 
cherished,  to  be  studied ;  but  not  to  be  worshipped.  We 
can  hear  in  it  God's  voice,  as  Adam  heard  it  among  the 
trees  of  the  garden  at  eventide.  It  is  that  holy  land  over 
which  we  may  walk,  not  needing  a  priest  to  keep  us  from 
falling.  It  is  that  deep,  unsounded,  and  luminous  ocean, 
the  bed  of  which  is  covered  with  gems  for  us.  Let  go  your 
cathedrals,  your  confessions  of  faith,  your  articles,  your 
liturgies,  your  psalm  books,  your  hymns,  every  thing  you 
have ;  but  let  go  the  Bible  only  with  your  life.  It  is  the 
noblest  bequest  that  God  ever  left  to  man.  It  is  the  right 
and  privilege  of  saints ;  we  must  never  give  it  up  till  we 
enter  that  blessed  place  where  the  Bible  will  be  superseded, 
and  we  shall  be  no  more  taught  from  letters  at  second  hand, 
but  from  the  lips  of  God,  our  Father,  himself. 

We  are  to  seek  God,  not  only  in  the  Bible,  but  in  the 
sanctuary.  Seek  him  in  the  preacher's  sermon,  in  the  read- 
ing of  the  chapters  of  the  Bible.  Seek  the  sermon  that  is 
truest,  purest,  and,  in  the  sermon.  Him  who  ought  to  be  its 
text,  the  golden  thread  that  runs  through  the  whole,  and 
gives  its  beauty  and  its  cohesion  to  all.  Do  not  hear  the 
sermon  in  order  to  be  pleased  with  it,  or  in  order  to  criticize 
it,  or  in  order  to  make  comments  on  the  preacher.  The 
preacher's  motive  is  not  to  lead  you  to  his  house,  or  to  him- 
self, or  to  his  church,  but  to  his  God.  That  sermon  which 
does  not  lead  you,  directly  or  indirectly,  by  inference  or  by 
prescription,  to  God  the  Saviour,  is  something  very  defi- 
cient, and  needs  to  be  studied  again.  You  are  to  seek  God 
in  the  sanctuary;  seek  him  in  the  sermon,  and  if,  after 
patient  and  prayerful  waiting,  you  do  not  find  him,  go  there 
no  more  ;  for  the  living  bread  is  not  there. 

Seek  him  diligently  by  prayer.     What  is  prayer  ?     Not 
counting  beads,  or  saying  Ave  Marias,  or  repeating  Pater- 
nosters ;  still  less  making  any  or  all  a  penance  to  man,  and 
27 


314  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

a  propitiation  to  God.  Nor  are  we  to  make  prayers  to  be 
seen  of  men,  in  corners  of  the  streets  ;  but  because  we  have 
a  deep  sense  of  need :  we  are  to  pray  just  as  that  need, 
dictates,  or  inclines.  And  wlienever  we  pray  in  the  congre- 
gation, in  the  school-room,  in  the  prayer-meeting,  we  should 
use  simple  words.  When  men  are  in  earnest  discussion 
about  a  subject,  they  speak  simply.  I  can  bear  bombastic 
sermons  ;  but  turgid,  loquacious  prayers  are  to  me  most 
offensive.  A  person  who  expresses  deep  feeling,  does  not 
beat  about  for  high-sounding  words ;  he  uses  instinctively 
the  plain  old  Saxon  words,  that  exactly  and  readily  suit  his 
purpose,  and  convey  most  shortly  and  vividly  the  meaning 
they  are  charged  with.  Pray  simply.  We  cannot  speak 
too  naturally  to  God. 

Seek  God  at  the  communion  table.  Because  some  have 
deified  the  Lord's  supper,  let  us  not  go  to  the  opposite 
extreme,  and  destroy  it.  Because  some  have  worshipped 
it,  as  if  it  were  a  god,  let  not  us  trample  it  under  foot,  as 
if  it  were  an  absolute  rite.  The  poor  Israelites  in  their 
caprice  one  day  worshipped  a  brass  serpent;  on  the  next 
day  they  broke  it  up,  as  if  it  were  a  thing  of  nought.  We 
are  not  to  cast  away  ordinances  as  if  they  were  useless,  nor 
to  worship  them  as  if  they  were  gods.  If  we  seeji  God 
aright  in  the  sanctuary,  we  shall  not  only  find  him,  but  we 
shall  be  so  absorbed  by  our  sense  of  the  magnificence  of  the 
God  that  is  in  it,  that  we  shall  put  into  its  lowly  but  just 
place  the  ordinance  that  reveals  him. 

We  are  to  seek  him  in  the  world  outside,  in  providence, 
in  all  the  events  of  history,  in  all  the  chapters  of  individual 
biography ;  in  the  sunny  spots  of  human  life,  in  its  darkest 
eclipses,  in  its  most  solitary  nooks ;  when  his  blessing  lights 
upon  us,  and  when  the  cloud  envelops  us  ;  in  all  our  joys, 
in  all  our  sorrows.  Seek  him  in  the  world  he  has  made, 
into  which  the  serpent  indeed  has  entered,  but  over  which 


Enoch's  creed.  815 

God  will  yet  reign  from  sea  to  sea,  and  from  the  river  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth.  God  is  in  all  things.  God  is,  in 
spite  of  all  appearances,  the  rewarder  of  them  that  come  to 
him. 

Having  thus  explained  the  faith,  I  will  show  how  it 
pleases  God. 

Such  faith  as  that  which  I  have  shown,  implies  a  deep 
sense  of  one's  own  insignificance ;  therefore  God  is  well 
pleased  with  it. 

Secondly,  this  faith  makes  a  man  own  that  he  has  lost 
God,  that  he  is  far  from  him,  that  he  must  be  diligently 
sought ;  and,  therefore,  he  runs  to  him,  and  diligently  seeks 
him  ;  and  God  is  well  pleased  with  it. 

Such  faith  empties  man  of  all  conceit  in  himself ;  makes 
him  own  that  he  is  blind,  and  poor,  and  naked,  and  that  no 
creature  can  satisfy  him,  that  no  created  thing  can  give  him 
comfort ;  and  such  faith  owns  that  God  is  able,  all-sufficient, 
and  all-willing  to  reward  them  that  diligently  seek  him,  and 
to  manifest  himself  to  them  that  believe  in  him.  And  with- 
'out  this  self-emptying,  self-denying,  God-glorifying,  Christ- 
magnifying  faith,  it  is  impossible  to  please  God.  It  matters 
not,  if  we  present  him  thousands  of  rams,  and  ten  thousands 
of  rivers  of  oil,  if  we  give  him  our  first-born  for  the  sin  of 
our  soul,  if  we  were  to  make  the  most  weary  pilgrimages 
and  the  most  torturing  penances ;  all  are  utterly  worthless. 
Without  fiiith  which  confides  in  him  as  a  Father,  believes  in 
him  as  a  God,  looks  to  him  as  a  rewarder  of  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  him,  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  please  God.  To 
please  him  is  the  noblest  and  the  purest  aim,  and  the  most 
profitable ;  for  "  whatsoever  things  we  ask,"  says  John,  "  we 
receive  them ;  because  we  do  those  things  that  are  pleasing 
in  his  sight ; "  and  if  we  please  God,  "  he  will  make  our 
very  enemies  to  be  at  peace  with  us."  Thus,  it  is  worth 
pleasing  him,  not  by  doing  any  thing  to  propitiate  him ;  but 


316  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

by  walking  with  him  as  a  child  walks  with  a  father ;  not  as 
a  slave  with  a  tyrant  master  before  whom  he  cringes,  or  as 
a  maniac  with  his  keeper  of  whom  he  is  constantly  afraid ; 
but  as  a  child  with  a  parent,  in  whose  face  he  sees  sunshine, 
and  in  whose  footfall  he  hears  the  most  welcome  music,  as 
Enoch  walked.  Thus  walking,  and  thus  believing,  we  please 
God,  and  are  accepted  of  him,  through  Christ  Jesus,  the 
only  Saviour  of  this  illustrious  member  of  the  Antediluvian 
Church,  and  of  all  who  believe,  till  the  end  of  time. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


THE    BABEL    BUILDERS  ;    OR,    UNSANCTIFIED    JUDGMENTS. 

"  Nor  deem  the  irrevocable  past 

As  wholly  wasted  —  wholly  vain, 
If,  rising  on  its  wrecks,  at  last 
To  something  nobler  we  attain." 

"  And  they  said,  Go  to,  bt  us  build  us  a  city  and  a  tower,  whose  top  may 
reach  unto  heaven ;  and  let  us  make  us  a  name,  lest  we  be  scattered 
abroad  upon  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  And  the  Lord  came  down 
to  see  the  city  and  the  tower,  which  the  children  of  men  builded. 
And  the  Lord  said,  Behold,  the  people  is  one,  and  they  have  all  one 
language ;  and  this  they  begin  to  do :  and  now  nothing  will  be  re- 
strained from  them,  which  they  have  imagined  to  do.  Go  to,  let  us  go 
down,  and  there  confound  their  language,  that  they  may  not  under- 
stand one  another's  speech.  So  the  Lord  scattered  them  abroad  from 
thence  upon  the  face  of  all  the  earth :  and  they  left  off  to  build  the 
city."  — Gex.  xi.  4-8. 

I  HAVE  presented  elsewhere  in  explanatory  remarks 
those  geographical,  and,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  ethno- 
graphical criticisms,  which  cast  some  light  upon  the  mere 
history  of  the  chapter  which  I  have  now  read.  But  it  is 
important  that  we  should  look  at  God's  word,  not  only  in  the 
light  of  history  and  of  science,  but  also  in  that  light  which 
shall  make  it  practically  improving  to  our  own  hearts,  and 
lives,  and  consciences.  Therefore,  I  proceed  to  draw  from 
the  whole  of  the  historical  statement  we  have  read,  those 
interesting  and  important  spiritual  lessons  with  which  all 
Scripture  is  charged,  and  which  it  needs  only  patient  and 
27* 


318     ■  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

prayerful  investigation  to  educe  for  our  comfort,  edification, 
and  progress. 

How  true  is  God's  portrait  of  humanity  after  the  Flood ! 
how  true  was  his  portrait  of  humanity  before  it !  Before  he 
sent  that  overwhelming  judgment,  he,  who  could  not  be  mis- 
taken, said,  "  Every  imagination  of  the  thoughts  of  man's 
heart  is  evil,  and  that  continually;"  and  after  the  Flood 
had  swept  the  earth,  and  punished  the  guilty,  and  saved  by 
a  special  miracle  them  that  loved  him,  God,  looking  still  to 
man's  heart,  said,  "Though  the  imagination  of  ther thoughts 
of  man's  heart  be  still  evil  continually,  yet  I  will  not  send 
another  Flood  to  destroy  the  whole  earth."  You  have 
humanity  sketched  before  the  Flood,  and  the  crimes  that 
then  prevailed  are  t^  evidence  how  truly  God  spake.  You 
have  humanity  sketched  after  the  Flood,  and  the  daring  and 
impious  experiment  described  in  the  eleventh  chapter  of 
Genesis,  is  the  evidence  how  true  that  portrait  was. 

We  see  from  all  this  that  the  visible  church  and  the  true 
spiritual  church  are  not  coextensive.  It  was  only  the  visi- 
ble church  that  was  saved  in  the  ark,  they  were  not  all 
members  of  the  true  spiritual  church.  Noah,  and  his  wives 
and  children,  were  the  selected  group  saved  by  God's  spe- 
cial providence,  and  by  a  specific  miracle,  from  the  desolat- 
ing judgments  that  overwhelmed  the  rest  of  the  world ;  but 
in  that  little  group  there  were  some  who  were  saved  tempo- 
rarily, but  not  spiritually  and  eternally ;  for  no  sooner  do 
they  escape  from  the  ark,  than,  forgetful  of  all  past  mercies, 
despising  all  existent  signs,  they  start  again  an  experiment 
of  impiety  and  wickedness  only  equalled  by  the  folly  in 
which  they  were  permitted  to  conceive  it.  So  is  it  still.  In 
the  smallest  church  all  are  not  truly  converted  men.  All 
that  pass  through  baptismal  water  are  not  regenerated,  just 
as  all  that  were  saved  by  the  Flood  were  not  saved  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God.     He  is  not  a  Jew  who  is  one  out- 


THE    BABEL    BUILDERS.  819 

wardly;  he  Is  not  a  Christian  who  is  one  only  baptized. 
There  needs  an  inner  work  to  make  us  members  of  the  inner 
church,  just  as  the  outer  rite  can  make  us  members  of  the 
outer  ecclesiastical  community. 

A  very  important  lesson  is  taught  here,  —  mere  judg- 
ments are  unequal  to  sanctify  the  heart,  wicked  men  do  not 
become  better  by  the  judgments  that  befall  them.  In  short, 
the  visitation  that  overtakes  a  person,  has  its  fruits  accord- 
ing to  the  prior  character  and  heart  of  that  person.  In  the 
case  of  God's  people,  all  afflictions  are  chastisements,  sweet- 
ened and  sanctified  to  them.  In  the  case  of  those  who  are 
not  God's  people,  afflictions  have  only  a  hardening  effect. 
It  is  the  inner  state  of  the  individual  prior  to  the  affliction, 
that  determines  and  surely  predicts  what  shall  be  the  prac- 
tical moral  effect  of  that  affliction.  There  is  nothing  in 
suffering,  however  severe,  or  however  long,  that  is  essen- 
tially sanctifying,  otherwise  the  penalties  of  the  lost  would 
end  in  the  purification  of  the  lost.  There  is  nothing  in  any 
suffering  that  can  root  out  the  fibres  of  the  old  heart,  or 
neutralize  its  inherent  poison.  The  Spirit  of  God  only  can 
do  so.  Affliction  to  the  believer  is  mercy ;  affliction  to  the 
unbeliever  is  penal,  and  not  paternal  in  any  respect.  We 
see  this  in  the  case  of  those  who  escaped  in  the  ark ;  what 
they  had  lost  —  for  they  had  all  lost  friends  and  relatives  — 
had  no  sanctifying  effect  upon  them. 

In  looking  at  this  historical  fact,  it  is  worthy  of  remark, 
there  was  no  sin  in  building  the  tower  —  that  was  not  the 
sin  —  there  was  no  more  sin  in  building  the  Tower  of  Babel, 
than  there  was  in  building  the  Pyramids,  or  any  of  the 
steeples  of  London.  The  outer  act  was  not  in  itself  sinful ; 
the  construction  of  a  city  was  rather  a  desirable  thing ;  it  is 
the  seat  of  refinement,  and  of  human  progress.  In  the 
outer  act  itself  there  could  have  been  nothing  that  was 
sinful.     Wherein  then  did  the  sin  lie  ?     The  same  outward 


320  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

act  may  diiFer  in  moral  character  in  different  circumstances. 
It  is  the  heart  behind  the  hand  that  decides  the  nature  and 
the  character  of  its  work ;  it  is  the  aim,  the  motive,  the  end, 
that  indicates  moral  character.  One  man  may  build  a 
church,  and  yet  there  may  be  no  piety  in  the  act ;  another 
man  may  build  a  playhouse,  and  there  may  be  no  impiety  in  it. 
It  is  when  the  work  is  in  itself  neutral,  that  you  are  to  deter- 
mine its  moral  character  by  the  prior  moral  feelings  of  the 
artisan,  or  the  mechanic,  or  the  genius  that  devised  and 
constructs  it.  In  building  this  tower,  the  sin  was  in  the 
aim,  the  end,  and  object  which  they  had  in  view.  Let  us 
investigate  what  these  were,  and  then  we  shall  be  able  to 
calculate  the  moral  nature  of  the  workmen  engaged  in  this 
enterprise. 

"We  have  only  to  listen  to  the  original  invitation, — 
"  Come,  let  us  build  us  a  city  and  a  tower,  whose  top  may 
reach  unto  heaven ;  and  let  us  make  us  a  name,"  that  is,  get 
national  celebrity  or  national  glory,  —  to  see  that  this  was 
their  grand,  predominating,  and  absorbing  object.  But  has 
this  actuating  motive  perished  or  been  buried  amid  the  ruins 
of  the  Tower  of  Babel?  Alas,  it  has  not.  How  many 
study,  not  in  order  to  be  useful  to  man  and  serviceable  in 
the  cause  of  Christ,  but  to  get  a  name !  Many  an  author 
writes  books,  many  a  senator  makes  speeches,  many  a  states- 
man constructs  cabinets,  many  a  soldier  draws  the  sword, 
many  a  sailor  walks  the  deck,  not  from  patriotic  motives,  or 
with  Christian  designs,  but  to  get  a  name.  As  Dr.  Chal- 
mers well  said,  "  Each  of  us  has  his  tower  of  Babel,  which 
we  are  continually  building,  and  never  learning  wisdom 
from  the  experience  of  the  past."  It  is  no  evidence  that 
the  thing  is  good  to  say  that  any  of  these  things  —  to  be  a 
soldier,  a  sailor,  an  author,  a  preacher,  or  an  orator,  —  is 
good  in  itself:  we  must  mark  the  aim,  the  end,  the  object  in 
view.     It  matters  not  what  the  thing  be,  if  it  be  not  in 


THE   BABEL    BUILDERS.  821 

itself  sinful ;  but  it  does  matter  what  our  end,  object,  and 
aim  are  in  doing  it.  There  may  possibly  be  less  sin  in 
building  a  playhouse  to  obtain  a  name,  than  in  building  a 
church  for  the  same  end.  In  building  a  playhouse  to  get  a 
name,  it  is  the  world's  workmen  doing  the  world's  bidding 
to  obtain  the  world's  applause ;  but  in  building  a  church  to 
get  a  name,  it  is  adding  hypocrisy  to  the  world's  crime. 
Many  a  man  founds  an  hospital,  not  because  he  loves  man 
the  more,  but  because  he  loves  his  own  name  better. 
Another  man  builds  a  college,  not  because  he  loves  the 
education  of  the  young,  but  in  order  that  his  name  may  be 
mentioned  with  praise  by  the  youth  that  are  to  study  there. 
In  the  old  mediaeval  ages,  men  built  churches  and  monas- 
teries in  order  that  they  might  have  masses  said  for  their 
souls ;  but  in  our  days  we  build  colleges,  and  found  hospitals, 
not  to  get  masses  said  for  our  souls,  but  to  get  praises  added 
to  our  names :  and  all  the  difference  is,  that  they  did  their 
acts  for  superstitious  ends,  and  we  do  ours  for  sceptical  ends 
—  both  are  Babels,  that,  built  or  building,  will  perish  and 
overwhelm  the  builders  in  their  ruins.  How  much  more 
beautiful  is  the  description  of  our  blessed  Lord,  —  when  you 
found  hospitals,  when  you  do  alms,  when  you  build  colleges, 
take  heed  that  "  ye  do  not  these  things  to  be  seen  of  men,'* 
that  ye  do  not  do  them  to  get  a  name ;  otherwise  ye  have 
no  reward  of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  Therefore, 
when  ye  do  your  alms,  sound  not  a  trumpet  before  you,  or, 
translated  into  modern  language,  do  not  put  a  paragraph  in 
the  newspaper ;  "  but  when  thou  doest  thine  alms,  let  not  thy 
left  hand  know  what  thy  right  hand  doeth."  How  intensely 
expressive !  Let  us  do  it  so  purely  from  a  right  motive,  so 
truly  to  a  right  end,  so  thoroughly  in  the  right  name,  that 
there  shall  be  no  alloy  of  any  other  end  or  motive  whatever. 
When  we  reflect  —  the  best  and  holiest  of  us  all  —  on  all 
the  side-ends  and  by-ends,  the  sub-motives  and  under-ob- 


322  THE   CHURCH  BEFORE   THE  FLOOD. 

jects,  that  we  have  in  view  in  the  best  things  we  do,  in  the 
purest  things  we  devise,  in  the  noblest  acts  of  sacrifice  we 
make,  we  must  all  bow  before  God  and  say,  "  Enter  not 
into  judgment,  0  Lord,  with  thy  servants,  for  in  thy  sight 
no  man  living  can  be  justified."  It  is  therefore  too  true  that 
the  Christian,  if  he  does  not  build  a  Babel  with  the  precise 
Babel  ends,  and  on  the  precise  Babel  foundation,  yet  has 
designs  that  have  the  old  alloy,  just  as  our  language  has  in 
it  the  traces  of  the  old  confusion  —  it  is  not  merely  that  our 
language  testifies  to  the  disruption  at  Babel,  but  our  hearts 
testify  to  "it  too.  How  often  do  we  see  one  apparently 
wrapped  and  absorbed  in  what  is  Christian,  who  yet  has  no 
Christian  motive  at  all !  I  have  seen  the  mountain  eagle 
almost  beating  the  blue  firmament  with  his  outspread  wings, 
and  I  have  thought,  as  I  gazed  at  his  magnificent  ascent, 
that  he  was  soaring  towards  the  sky  and  the  realms  of  purer 
and  of  brighter  day ;  but  I  had  only  to  wait  a  little  to  find 
out,  that  though  he  seemed  to  soar  so  high  and  aspire  so 
purely,  his  bright  eye  was  upon  the  quarry  all  the  while, 
that  was  on  the  ground  below.  So  it  is  with  many  a  one, 
with  loud  pretensions,  high-sounding  profession,  great  Chris- 
tian aims  avowed  and  declared,  while  he  seems  to  be -soaring 
upward  with  his  outspread  wings,  and  seeking  a  loftier 
sphere  and  a  nobler  land,  he  is  really  looking  down  to  what 
will  bring  the  greatest  profit  to  his  purse,  or  the  noblest 
credit  to  his  name.  Thus  we  have  the  Babel  spirit  mixing 
with  us,  thus  we  have  Babel  motives  still  actuating  us. 

But  there  were  more  defects  than  these  in  the  conduct 
of  the  Babel  builders.  One  great  defect  was,  they  left  out 
all  thought  of  God.  It  was,  perhaps,  well  that  they  did  so, 
because  their  object  was  bad ;  but  still,  if  the  object  had 
been  perfectly  good,  to  leave  out  all  thought  of  God  in 
undertaking  so  magnificent  a  scheme,  was,  to  say  the  least 
of  it,  extremely  atheistic.     But  do  we  not  in  some  degree 


THE   BABEL    BUILDERS.  323 

inherit  this  ?  We  look  at  means,  and  money,  and  talent,  as 
if  these  were  the  only  things,  and  we  forget  that  means, 
money,  talent,  will  all  be  blasted,  if  they  are  put  in  the 
place  of  God.  How  often  do  we  undertake  missionary 
enterprises,  and  new  schemes  of  philanthropy  and  useful- 
ness to  the  poor,  or  for  the  spiritual  enlightenment  of  the 
benighted,  and  forget  that  the  end  is  to  be  achieved,  not  by 
the  multitude  of  means,  or  the  weight  of  money,  or  the 
splendor  of  patronage,  but  directly  by  the  blessing  of 
Almighty  God  !  No  scheme  can  prosper,  from  which  this 
element  is  exhausted,  and  no  right  scheme  will  fail,  however 
meagre  at  its  commencement,  in  which  this  element  is  truly 
and  heartily  recognized.  "  I  shall  die  in  my  nest,"  said 
one,  and  he  found  it  otherwise.  "  Soul,  take  thine  ease," 
said  another,  "thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up  for  many 
days,"  and  that  night  his  soul  was  required  of  him.  "  To- 
morrow shall  be  as  this  day,"  say  some  ;  "  I  shall  multiply 
my  days,"  say  others ;  and  their  inward  thought  is  that 
their  houses  shall  continue,  and  their  names  shall  be  upon 
them,  and  yet  the  Lord  has  designed,  "  Except  the  Lord 
watch  the  city,  the  watchman  watcheth  in  vain."  It  is  not 
in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his  steps ;  it  is  not  by  might, 
nor  by  power,  but  by  my  Spirit,  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts. 
Thus,  one  of  the  Babel  sins  was  leaving  God  out  of  the 
enterprise.  Let  us  ask  ourselves.  Do  we  leave  out  God  in 
our  enterprises  ?  or,  Do  we  introduce  him  into  all  ?  We 
are  not  only  to  die  in  the  Lord,  but  we  are  to  live  in  the 
Lord  ;  and  those  who  hope  to  die  in  the  Lord,  should  know 
that  there  is  no  likelihood  that  that  hope  will  be  realized, 
except  they  now  live  in  the  Lord.  It  is  right  to  marry,  but 
it  is  a  Babel  marriage  unless  it  be  marrying  in  the  Lord. 
It  is  right  to  live,  but  it  is  a  Babel  life  unless  to  live  be 
Christ.  It  is  necessary  to  die,  but  such  death  will  be  an 
ominous  one  unless  we  die  in  him  in  whom  we  live,  that  is, 


324  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

in  the  Lord.  "We  have  only  to  read  the  chart  of  history,  to 
see  that,  whenever  nations  have  forgotten  God,  God  has 
sooner  or  later  forsaken  them.  How  much  have  we  seen 
of  this,  to  go  back  no  longer  than  1845  !  In  that  year  the 
Babel  spirit  made  the  whole  nations  one  vast  speculating 
body.  Soon  afterwards,  God  looked  down,  and  confusion 
and  wreck  fell  upon  all.  Soon  after,  we  thought  we  could 
defy  the  seasons,  and  have  bread,  and  plenty  to  spare ;  God 
looked  down,  smote  the  element  in  which  we  trusted,  and 
all  was  confusion  again.  In  another  year,  we  thought  we 
had  made  such  progress  in  all  our  sanatory  arrangements, 
that  we  might  repel  triumphantly  the  incursions  of  pestilence 
and  plague  ;  God  looked  down,  another  year  and  a  nation's 
heart  almost  stood  still  with  terror.  In  1851,  some  were 
predicting  a  millennium,  who  had  been  predicting  it  for  ten 
years  before  ;  and  others  were  enjoying,  as  we  all  properly 
enjoyed,  the  spectacle  of  peace,  which  we  hoped  to  be  the 
earnest  of  peace  with  all  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  no 
sooner  did  1851  close  with  the  hopes  and  pledges  of  peace, 
and  the  interchanges  of  peace,  and  1852  begin,  than  war, 
and  rumors  of  war,  and  preparations  for  war,  were  heard 
on  every  side.  How  truly,  then,  is  God  teaching  us  to 
guard  against  the  spirit  of  the  Babel  builders,  and  in  our 
anticipations,  our  arrangements,  our  schemes,  our  enter- 
prises, never  to  forget  to  add,  in  spirit  if  not  in  letter,  "  If 
the  Lord  will."  By  this  I  do  not  mean  that  we  are  to 
proclaim  these  words  on  all  occasions,  in  all  intercourse ; 
but  that  in  our  thoughts  there  is  to  be  the  undercurrent 
of  feeling,  "  If  the  Lord  will ; "  in  all  our  conversations  the 
undertone,  "  If  the  Lord  will ; "  in  all  our  schemes,  and 
enterprises,  and  prospects,  the  inner  feeling,  "  If  the  Lord 
will ; "  in  other  words,  admitting  all  other  elements  that  are 
good,  but  never  excluding  the  element  that  is  essential  — 
God's  glory,  God's  presence,  and  our  dependence  on  him, 
and  responsibility  to  him. 


THE   BABEL    BUILDERS.  325 

But,  perhaps,  in  these  Babel  builders  there  was  worse 
than  simply  leaving  out  God  ;  there  was,  I  fear,  not  simply 
atheism,  which  is  being  without  God  ;  but  there  was,  I  fear, 
antitheism,  or  opposition  to  God.  They  knew  God's  ordi- 
nance, which  was,  that  they  should  go  forth  according  to  the 
arrangements  made  with  Shem  and  Ham  and  Japheth,  and 
cover  and  replenish  the  whole  earth  ;  but  they  did  not  like 
to  go  forth  upon  unknown  lands,  and  into  strange  latitudes ; 
and  therefore,  though  they  heard  sounding  in  their  ears  the 
bidding  of  that  God  who  had  saved  them  from  the  deluge, 
they  determined  to  defy  his  thunders,  to  brave  his  threaten- 
ings,  and  to  build  a  tower  which  should  be  a  rallying  centre 
for  the  earth's  population  to  gather  round  ;  and  so  high,  in 
all  probability,  that  no  second  deluge,  which  they  supposed 
possible,  should  reach  its  top  ;  and  so  strong,  that  no  hostile 
force  should  be  able  to  overturn  it.  Leaving  out  God  is 
atheism;  acting  contrary  to  God  is  antitheism.  But  they 
found  that  whatever  is  attempted  against  God  recoils  upon 
them  who  make  the  attempt.  One  cannot  read  the  history 
of  the  past,  or  any  department  of  that  history,  without 
seeing  that,  whenever  man  has  dared  to  provoke  the  contro- 
versy, whether  he  or  God  shall  prevail,  Babel  confusion  has 
been  his  doom,  and  the  manifested  glory  and  sovereignty 
of  God  the  great  lesson ;  it  may  be,  not  permanently,  but 
surely  and  deeply  taught. 

At  all  events,  whether  it  was  hostility  to  God,  defiance " 
of  him,  or  simply  omission  of  God  and  forgetfulness  of  him, 
there  was  in  their  whole  scheme  thorough  unbelief.  God's 
word  told  them  that  there  should  be  no  second  Flood,  but 
their  wicked  hearts  said.  We  do  not  believe  God's  word,  and 
therefore  we  will  make  preparations  to  meet  a  contingency 
still  possible.  God's  word  again  told  them  that,  as  often  as 
they  saw  that  sacramental  symbol  span  the  firmament,  and 
display  its  beauteous  arch,  they  should  have  a  pledge  for 
28 


326  THE   CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

their  assurance,  not  for  God's,  that  no  second  Flood  should 
come ;  but  they  said,  No,  we  will  not  believe  that  sign,  and 
therefore  we  will  act  just  as  if  there  were  no  such  promise 
confirmed  by  any  such  pledge.  Do  we  ever  feel  and  mani- 
fest this  spirit  ?  There  is  in  the  Lord's  supper  a  standing 
pledge,  like  the  rainbow,  that  Jesus  suflfered,  and  that  God 
spared  him  not,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all.  Do  we, 
notwithstanding,  sometimes  doubt  that  fact,  and  feel  as  if 
God  had  never  given  a  Saviour  ?  God  says,  "  Behold,  the 
Lord  Cometh :  he  cometh  with  clouds,  and  every  eye  shall 
see  him,  and  they  also  that  pierced  him."  Do  we  not  some- 
times doubt,  and  say,  "To-morjow  shall  be  as  this  day," 
and,  "  Where  is  the  promise  of  his  coming  ?  for  since  the 
fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things  continue  as  they  were  from  the 
beginning?"  Such  is  the  unbelief  of  the  Babel  builders, 
and  if  their  sin  is  ours,  for  retribution  exists  on  earth  as 
truly  as  it  will  exist  hereafter,  their  punishment  will  be  ours 
also.  "Whatever  is  undertaken  without  God,  or  in  disbe- 
lief of  God's  word,  or  in  defiance  of  God's  power,  will 
never  prosper.  Li  national  constitutions,  in  national  legisla- 
tion, in  the  foundation  of  palaces,  and  in  the  building  of 
cottages,  in  drawing  up  great  charters  for  a  people,  and  in 
writing  small  leases  for  a  house,  the  great  element  of  co- 
herence, strength,  endurance,  safety,  prosperity,  honor,  is 
the  recognition  of  God,  and  in  so  recognizing  him,  the  fee- 
blest shall  be  strong,  the  fewest  shall  be  conquerors.  All 
Scripture,  confirmed  by  all  history,  shows  that  institutions 
laid  in  God  are  lasting  as  the  stars,  institutions  built  in  defi- 
ance of  him  perish  and  dissolve  like  frostwork  in  a  night. 
Let  us  therefore  carry,  into  the  sequestered  nooks  of  pri- 
vate life,  what  we  ought  to  see  developed  in  the  greatest 
and  most  conspicuous  places  of  public  life  —  a  sense  of  de- 
pendence on  Him  who  looks  on.  Let  the  merchant  sit 
down  at  his  desk  with  as  solemn  feeling  as  that  wherewith 


THE   BABEL    BUILDERS.  327 

he  sits  down  at  the  Lord's  table.  Let  him  enter  his  counting- 
house  with  a  sense  of  responsibility  to  God,  as  real  as  that 
with  which  he  enters  the  sanctuary ;  and  let  him  write  his 
ledger  with  just  as  deep  and  sensitive  a  mind,  as  that  with 
which  he  reads  his  Bible.  I  believe  that  a  besetting  heresy 
of  the  day  is  not  Calvinism,  nor  Arminianism,  nor  any 
other  ism,  but  the  practical  separation  of  what  is  religious, 
and  what  is  secular.  I  never  can  accept  such  separation. 
Education  without  religion  is  no  education  at  all.  Business 
without  religion  is  Babel  building,  and  it  will  have  a  Babel 
issue.  So  minute  is  the  requirement  of  God's  word,  that 
he  says,  "  Whatever  ye  do,  whether  ye  eat  or  drink,  do  all 
to  the  glory  of  God."  But  the  besetting  and  the  very  popu- 
lar idea  is,  religion  is  religion,  and  it  is  fit  for  the  church ; 
business  is  business,  and  it  only  is  fit  for  the  market.  Most 
certainly,  do  not  carry  your  business  into  your  religion,  and 
make  religion  a  matter  of  profit  and  of  loss ;  but  you  ought 
to  carry  your  religion  into  your  business,  that  your  business 
may  be  beautiful  before  God,  and  just  and  honorable  in  the 
sight  of  man.  When  we  come  to  the  sanctuary,  we  come 
to  be  taught  what  religion  is,  and  how  deep,  and  how  high, 
and  how  far  religion  ought  to  reach.  When  we  go  out  into 
the  counting-house,  the  market,  the  warehouse,  the  place 
where  mammon's  traffic  is,  we  go  there  to  show  how  religion 
can  make  us  to  differ.  The  merchant  who  drinks  in  the 
lessons  of  the  Bible  on  the  Sunday,  will  not  go  to  the 
Royal  Exchange  and  preach  there ;  but  he  will  in  his  trans- 
actions make  it  be  felt  by  others  that  there  is  such  honesty 
about  that  man,  such  integrity,  right-heartedness,  and  truth, 
that  he  must  have  some  spring  to  feed  it,  some  hidden 
manna,  some  source  of  persistency  and  power  that  we  know 
not  of;  we  will  go  where  that  man  goes,  his  people  shall  be 
our  people,  we  will  hear  what  his  minister  says.  The  minis- 
ter who  has  some  twenty  or  thirty  thorough  Christianized 


328  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

men  going  out  into  the  world,  acting  out  their  Christianity 
in  the  world's  business  without  show,  pretence,  or  talk,  or 
cant,  or  any  thing  approaching  to  it,  will  soon  have  a 
crowded  congregation,  because  other  people  will  inquire  into 
the  secret  of  this  superiority  to  all  around,  and  they  will  go 
to  learn  where  and  what  that  secret  is,  and  they  will  say  at 
last  what  some  said  to  the  woman  of  Samaria,  "  Now  we 
believe,  not  because  of  thy  saying ;  for  we  have  heard  him 
ourselves." 

We  learn  another  lesson  from  the  Babel  builders ;  what- 
ever man  attempts  without  God,  or  in  spite  of  God,  or  in 
disobedience  of  God,  or  in  disbelief  of  God,  in  order  to 
attain  a  given  end,  is  almost  sure  to  issue  in  the  opposite. 
These  men  set  about  building  this  tower  to  do  what  ?  To 
"  get  a  great  name,"  to  become  the  illustrious  engineers  and 
architects  of  the  world,  so  that  after  ages  should  quote  them 
as  men  of  the  grandest  genius,  and  the  greatest  powers,  and 
their  name  should  be  pronounced  with  veneration  when 
their  dust  was  sleeping  in  the  grave  below.  That  was  their 
design,  this  was  their  object  —  did  they  accomplish  it? 
Instead  of  gaining  an  illustrious  name,  they  are  bywords ; 
when  we  see  some  wild  enthusiast  fail,  we  call  him  a  Babel 
builder;  when  we  meet  a  fanatic  attempting  some  wild 
scheme,  we  say,  he  is  a  Babel  builder.  They  have  got 
fame,  but  it  is  the  fame  of  contempt ;  and  the  fragments  of 
their  tower,  and  the  memorials  of  its  erection,  still  endure, 
to  show  that  they  who  set  out  to  get  reputation  in  spite  of 
God,  will  only  get  shame,  discredit,  and  contempt.  But  this 
was  not  their  only  object  —  they  had  another  in  view.  It 
was  to  prevent  themselves  being  scattered  over  all  the  face 
of  the  earth ;  it  was  to  be  a  central  rallying  tower  to  retain 
the  unity  of  the  masses.  Did  they  accomplish  it?  Just 
the  reverse  —  the  very  thing  they  deprecated  was  the  very 
thing  they  provoked.    The  very  scattering  that  they  raised 


THE   BABEL    BUILDERS.  329 

the  tower  to  prevent,  was  the  very  scattering  —  violently 
and  not  gently,  as  it  would  have  been  —  which  they  really 
brought  in  all  its  severit;;^  upon  themselves.  How  truly 
does  Obadiah  speak  of  them  when  he  says,  "  The  pride  of 
thine  heart  hath  deceived  thee,  thou  that  dwellest  in  the 
clefts  of  the  rock,  whose  habitation  is  high ;  that  saith  in 
his  heart,  Who  shall  bring  me  down  to  the  ground  ?  Though 
thou  exalt  thyself  as  the  eagle,  and  though  thou  set  thy  nest 
among  the  stars,  thence  will  I  bring  thee  down,  saith  the 
Lord."  God  resisteth  the  proud,  he  giveth  grace  to  the 
humble.  We  do  not  need  a  space  of  five  hundred  yards  to 
build  our  Babel ;  in  many  a  nook  and  sequestered  place  is 
a  tower  of  Babel  attempted  still.  Who  has  not  felt,  more 
or  less,  that  when  you  have  set  your  heart  upon  something, 
without  taking  in  the  sense  of  God's  presence,  or  your 
responsibility  to  him,  or  the  contingency  that  he  might  inter- 
pose, and  when  you  have  gained  the  very  thing  that  your 
heart  was  set  upon,  how  often  it  has  been  found  another 
thorn  in  your  pillow,  a  corrosive  and  a  cankering  thing  in 
your  heart !  Many  a  man  has  set  his  heart  upon  making  a 
fortune,  and  without  a  thought  about  God  —  not  taking 
means  that  are  dishonest,  yet  atheistically  —  he  has  set  his 
heart  upon  making  a  fortune,  and  God  allows  him  to  suc- 
ceed. What  is  the  result  of  it  ?  Just  when  he  has  made 
the  fortune,  he  is  laid  upon  a  sick-bed  from  which  he  never 
rises.  I  have  seen  this  in  the  extremest  degree,  when  the 
fortune  was  magnificent,  beyond  counting.  Or  you  have  set 
your  heart  upon  a  fortune,  and  you  have  obtained  it,  and 
learned  how  unsatisfactory  it  is,  and  that  you  have  Been 
spending  your  money  for  that  which  looked  like  bread,  but 
which  is  not  bread,  and  your  labor  for  that  which  you 
thought  would  satisfy,  and,  lo,  it  satisfieth  not.  Many  have 
made  a  fortune  in  which  all  seemed  to  be  prosperous  and 
merry  as  a  marriage  bell,  and  yet  that  very  fortune  has 
28* 


330        THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 

occasioned  them  such  torment,  disputes,  bitterness  of  heart, 
and  anxiety  of  mind,  that  they  have  wished  to  God  that 
they  had  never  had  a  fortune  at  all.  I  heard  of  one  who 
set  his  heart  upon  a  fortune  with  all  his  might  —  an  irreli- 
gious, atheistic,  ungodly  man :  he  made  the  fortune,  and  one 
day  he  was  met  going  to  commit  suicide  —  such  was  the 
satisfaction  it  gave  to  him.  Whatever  we  attempt  against 
God,  or  without  God,  either  will  be  contradicted  in  its  issue, 
or  if  we  obtain  the  object  we  had  in  view,  that  object  will 
be  a  thorn,  a  calamity,  and  a  curse.  A  crown  reached  in 
the  face  of  God  will  be  but  a  burning  circlet ;  a  throne,  or 
a  presidential  chair,  attained  by  violation  of  the  laws  of  God 
will  be  but  a  restless  seat ;  reputation  and  renown  achieved 
in  the  spite  of  God  will  be  poor  enjoyment  to  him  who  has 
it.  That  little  word  "  God,"  the  exponent  of  a  grand  ele- 
ment in  a  man's  heart,  gives  vigor  to  the  hand  that  wins  the 
fortune,  and  it  gives  repose  to  the  heart  to  enjoy  that  fortune 
after  it  is  won.  Therefore,  merchants,  tradesmen,  soldiers, 
sailors,  all  men,  whatever  be  your  position,  whatever  your 
profession,  seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and  his  righteous- 
ness, and  all  other  things  shall  be  added  unto  you.  How 
beautiful  is  that !  It  is  like  the  law  of  gravitation  —  all  falls 
under  it,  clusters  around  it,  becomes  holy  and  prosperous 
just  by  its  being  in  the  heart  and  actuating  all. 

All  humanity  is  suffering  under  the  curse  incurred  by  the 
Babel  builders.  We  need  not  quarrel  with  that  great  law 
of  God's  providential  dealing,  visiting  the  sins  of  the  fathers 
upon  the  children.  You  need  not  say,  it  is  unjust.  I  do 
not  stop  to  discuss  its  justice ;  I  assert  simply,  it  is  a  fact, 
and  a  fact  written  in  the  Bible,  and  acted  out  in  providence 
every  day.  The  question  is  not.  Is  the  thing  true  ?  for  we 
feel  it ;  and  therefore  to  quarrel  with  the  Bible  for  asserting 
it,  is  to  quarrel  with  God's  word  for  speaking  truth.  These 
Babel  builders  built  this  tower  in  defiance  of  God,  or  in 


THE   BABEL    BUILDERS,  831 

unbelief  of  God ;  their  tongues  were  confounded ;  literally, 
the  J  became  no  longer  of  one  lip.  Now  what  is  the  result  ? 
That  every  missionary  who  goes  out  to  preach  to  the 
heathen,  goes  out  cramped  and  scathed  by  the  curse  of 
Babel.  He  has  to  sit  down  three  or  four  years  to  learn  the 
language,  and,  after  he  has  learned  it,  who  does  not  know 
that  the  speaking  with  foreign  idioms,  and  with  all  the  defi- 
ciencies of  foreign  habits,  to  a  heathen  people,  is  presenting 
the  gospel  with  the  least  element  of  power,  and  in  its  least 
favorable  aspect  ?  We  have  in  our  experience  every  day 
to  deal  with  that  great  fact  before  us  —  the  confusion  of 
tongues.  And  what  is  the  cause  of  most  men's  quarrels  ? 
Not  that  their  hearts  are  really  so  much  at  issue  the  one 
with  the  other,  but  that  the  language  in  which  they  unfold 
and  express  them  is  misunderstood  the  one  by  the  other. 
Whenever  we  hear  great  ecclesiastical  quarrels  between 
bishops  and  presbyters,  synods  and  general  assemblies,  we 
hear  the  undertone  of  Babel  in  the  midst  of  them  —  the 
quarrel  is  less  about  things,  and  more  about  modes  of 
expression.  In  the  case  of  Calvinism  and  Arminianism,  — 
hear  a  truly  converted  Arminian  and  Calvinist  pray  together, 
and  you  will  find  that  they  pray  the  same ;  hear  them  preach, 
they  preach  very  much  the  same ;  and  you  find  that  the 
logomachy  is  rather  in  the  terms  employed  —  that  it  is  a 
Babel  dispute  —  that  they  are  at  heart  really  and  vitally 
one.  The  reason  of  our  quarrels  generally  is  more  in  our 
expression  of  our  meaning,  than  in  our  meaning  itself. 
Every  man  has  not  the  power  of  expressing  his  thoughts. 
Some  men  have  such  power  of  speaking,  that  they  can 
speak  for  hours  without  a  particle  of  meaning.  Other  men 
have  great  stores  of  thought,  but  such  inability  to  utter  it, 
that  they  cannot  speak  five  minutes  fluently.  And  when 
we  know  what  mighty  varieties  there  are  between  these  two 
extremes,  we  shall  learn  to  forgive  those  that  differ,  and 


332  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

lament  the  Babel  curse  that  is  found  in  our  divisions,  and 
we  shall  pray  for  what  I  now  refer  to,  that  future  and 
coming  Pentecost,  of  which  the  last  was  but  an  instalment, 
when,  not  the  earth  shall  be  of  one  tongue,  for  that  would 
be  monotony,  but  when  all  men  shall  speak  all  tongues  as 
they  speak  their  mother-tongue,  and  then  there  will  be  unity 
and  peace.  Pentecost  came  only  in  the  first  drops;  the 
great  shower,  I  believe,  is  yet  to  come.  At  Babel,  separa- 
tion was  the  curse ;  at  Pentecost,  separation  was  turned  into 
a  blessing.  At  Babel,  men  were  scattered  mechanically  by 
the  different  tongues  that  instantly  broke  out ;  at  Pentecost, 
men  were  morally  united,  though  mechanically  separated. 
Let  us  then  pray  for  that  blessed  Pentecost,  when  God  shall 
pour  out  his  Spirit  upon  all  flesh,  and  all  shall  see  eye  to 
eye,  and  all  shall  be  taught  of  God,  and  great  shall  be  the 
peace  of  his  children. 

How  truly  do  we  see  at  each  stage  of  the  book  of 
Genesis,  God's  presence  —  God  reigns.  He  taught  man- 
kind, that  though  man  had  sinned  and  the  world  had 
strayed,  yet  he  had  not  given  up  the  reins  of  government, 
he  had  not  left  all  to  chance.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Babel 
builders  fancied  that  God,  having  satisfied  his  justice,  as 
they  would  call  it,  by  the  deluge,  had  returned  to  repose, 
and  left  the  world  to  manage  itself;  but  he  interposed  to 
show  that  he  held  the  reins,  that  he  is  throned  above  the 
floods,  and  that  he  will  restrain  the  wrath  of  man,  and  make 
the  remainder  of  it  praise  him. 

Unity  in  itself  is  not  necessarily  a  blessing.  The  Romish 
church  boasts  always  of  its  unity.  Now  there  never  was  a 
finer  specimen  of  unity  upon  earth  than  the  unity  of  the 
Babel  builders.  They  were  all  of  one  tongue,  they  were 
all  of  one  mind,  they  had  all  one  purpose,  and  they  set  to 
work  shoulder  to  shoulder  to  accomplish  that  great  enter- 
prise.    Therefore,  mere  unity  is  not  necessarily  a  blessing. 


THE  BABEL   BUILDERS.  §33 

It  is  what  men  are  united  in,  that  is  the  main  thing,  not  the 
mere  fact  that  men  are  united.  Better  differ  in  the  details 
of  a  holy  enterprise  that  we  seek  to  accomplish,  than  be 
united  in  a  wicked  enterprise,  on  which  we  have  set  our 
hearts.  Where  there  is  unity  without  truth,  there  there  is 
conspiracy.  Where  there  is  unity  in  truth,  there  is  no 
doubt  a  blessing.  And  certainly,  when  bad  men  combine, 
good  men  should  always  try  to  unite.  But,  never  forget, 
our  union  will  be  in  the  ratio  of  the  truth  that  we  hold, 
and  only  through  the  truth  can  we  be  made  one ;  for  the 
wisdom  that  is  from  above  is  first  pure,  then  it  is  peace- 
able. 

And  in  the  next  place,  let  us  learn  from  this,  too,  how 
inefficient  a  channel  of  truth  tradition  is.  They  had  no 
Bible  in  those  days ;  they  did  not  perhaps  strictly  need  one, 
men  lived  so  long  —  for  it  seems  that  still  after  the  Flood 
the  patriarchal  ages  of  the  antediluvians  were  continued, 
gradually  lessening  until  the  days  of  Moses  —  that  truth 
had  every  chance,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  of  remain- 
ing undiluted ;  yet  these  builders  had  lost  every  vestige 
of  truth,  and  departed  from  every  anilouncement  that 
God  had  made ;  they  atheistically  lived  and  atheistically 
perished. 

Let  us  set  our  hearts  upon  building,  not  a  Babel,  but  on 
building  up  living  stones  in  the  living  temple  of  the  living 
God.  Let  us  also  anticipate  that  "  city  that  hath  foundations," 
for  Babel  had  none,  "whose  builder  and  maker  is  God:" 
which  hath  no  need  of  the  sun,  nor  of  the  moon ;  for  the  Lord 
God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  light  thereof:  in  which 
there  shall  enter  nothing  that  defileth,  and  the  inhabitant 
shall  not  say,  I  am  sick ;  and  in  which  the  descendants 
of  Sliem,  and  Ham,  and  Japheth  shall  meet,  because  they 
have  previously  met  in  Christ;  and  so  shall  we  be  for 
ever  with  the  Lord,  to  whom  be  praise  and  glory.    Amen. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL. 

"  Onward  as  we  trace 
»         God's  oracles,  redemption  is  the  point 
To  which  they  all  converge." 

"For  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that 
whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  everlasting 
life."  — John  iii.  16. 

These  words,  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave 
his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him, 
should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life,"  constitute  one 
of  the  very  simplest,  and  yet  the  most  comprehensive 
summary  of  Christian  truth  in  the  whole  word  of  God.  It 
is  the  centre  and  the  circumference  of  all  Christianity. 
The  most  precious  truths  are  folded  up  in  it  as  in  a 
beautiful  and  living  bud,  and  they  are  only  developed  and 
expanded  in  all  the  pages  of  the  writings  of  evangelists, 
the  epistles  of  apostles,  and  the  preaching  and  sermons  of 
faithful  ministers  of  Christ  Jesus.  It  was  the  faith  of 
Adam,  Abel,  Enoch,  and  Noah.  Its  truth  was  in  their 
hearts,  as  in  ours.  It  was  the  creed  of  the  Church  before 
the  Flood. 

It  assumes  certain  great  propositions  which  all  Christians 
admit,  —  that  the  world  is  in  ruins.  The  Church  before 
the  Flood  saw  the  ruins.  I  do  not  stop  to  dispute,  or  to  try 
to  gauge  the  measure  and  the  extent  of  these  ruins.  It  is 
one  of  the  plainest  propositions  in  the  word  of  God,  that  all 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  335 

have  sinned,  that  all  are  plunged  into  a  common  catastrophe, 
that  all  are  perishing  from  God,  "  by  nature  children  of 
wrath,  even  as  others,"  without  any  distinction  of  any 
practical  value  as  to  a  future  and  eternal  state.  The 
imaginations  of  man's  heart  are  evil.  This  same  book 
reveals  another  fact  just  as  plainly,  and  as  distinctly ;  a  fact 
brought  out  before  the  Flood  also — that  man  cannot  recover 
himself;  that  it  is  not  in  man  that  walketh  to  direct  his 
steps ;  it  is  still  less  in  man  that  liveth  to  quicken  his  own 
dead  heart.  It  reveals  in  the  plainest  terms,  that  for  4,000 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  for  1,800  years  since, 
society  has  been  attempting  to  regenerate  itself,  and  it  has 
all  along  been  a  gigantic  failure ;  and  the  only  evidences 
of  progress,  the  only  traces  of  advancement,  are  those 
patches  of  beautiful  sunshine  which  are  the  direct  or  the 
indirect  rays  of  that  Sun  of  righteousness  who  has  arisen 
with  healing  under  his  wings.  The  only  prescription  which 
.the  Bible  urges  now,  or  ever  urged  since  the  Fall,  for  this 
great  calamity,  is  faith  in  him  whom  God  promised  once, 
and  has  given  since,  and  by  faith  in  whom  we  have  eternal 
life.  Nothing  better  was  ever  conceived  by  man ;  nothing 
more  is  required  by  God.  We  need  what  we  may  have, 
salvation  through  the  blood  of  Christ ;  nothing  less  will  suit 
the  greatest  saint,  nothing  more  is  needed  for  th«  very 
chiefest  of  sinners.  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he 
gave"  this,  which  alone  is  adequate  —  "his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 

But  before  we  open  up  these  words,  I  pause  a  few' 
minutes  in  order  to  meet  difficulties  that  occur  to  one's  self, 
and  to  many  that  do  not  venture  to  express  them,  and  that 
have  been  urged  by  some  who  reject  the  gospel  as  reasons 
why  they  must  refuse  it  at  its  very  commencement.  It  has 
been  said,  Might  not  God  have  saved  all  this  vast  expendi- 


336  THE   CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

ture  by  sjmply  preventing  man  from  sinning,  and  the  earth 
from  falling  ?  We  answer,  What  God  might  have  done  it  is 
not  for  human  wisdom  to  decide ;  what  God  can  do  is  not 
my  rule  of  faith,  but  what  God  has  written  in  his  blessed 
and  holy  word.  These  are  speculations  in  which  we  are 
lost  the  moment  that  we  try  to  fathom  them.  But  still  there 
are  some  thoughts  that  may  modify  the  force  of  such  an 
objection,  wherever  its  weight  may  be  felt.  God  did  not 
make  man  as  we  now  find  him,  nor  the  earth  as  it  now  is. 
If  we  believe  the  Bible,  the  very  reverse  is  the  fact.  The 
whole  Church  before  the  Flood  is  my  proof.  God  made 
man  at  first  perfectly  holy,  and  perfectly  happy,  and  the 
earth  so  beautiful,  that  he,  in  whose  sight  the  angels  them- 
selves are  stained  with  imperfections,  and  the  heavens 
unclean,  pronounced  all,  then  and  there,  to  be  "  very  good." 
No  man  can  say  where  sin  came  from,  nor  tell  how  it  is  in 
the  world ;  but  we  ourselves  know,  because  we  feel,  that  it 
is  in  the  world :  but  we  are  thoroughly  satisfied,  that  what- 
ever source  it  came  from,  it  came  not  from  the  bosom  of 
God.  God  is  not  responsible  for  it.  It  is  a  jar  in  the  glo- 
rious harmony,  a  foul  blot  on  his  fair  and  beautiful  work- 
manship, it  is  not  his  doing;  but  —  bright  and  blessed 
prophecy  !  —  a  jar  which  shall  yet  be  resolved  into  har- 
mony, a  blot  which  shall  yet  be  so  expunged,  that  the  earth 
will  look  forth  more  fresh,  more  beautiful,  and  glorious,  than 
when  first  it  came  from  the  plastic  hands  of  him  that  made 
it.  In  the  second  place,  in  looking  at  this  objection,  it  is 
necessary  to  observe,  man  was  left  to  the  freedom  of  his 
own  will.  If  God  had  created  man  with  a  disposition  to 
sin,  with  an  inherent  liking  and  bias  to  it,  the  responsibility 
would  seem  to  me,  with  our  present  information,  to  have 
rested  upon  God ;  but  so  far  from  making  man  with  a  bias 
to  evil,  he  made  him  perfectly  holy  and  happy,  with  every 
possible  dissuasive    from   doing  evil,  and  with  every  con- 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  837 

ceivable  inducement  to  persist  in  the  love  of  God,  and  in 
allegiance  to  his  law.  True,  God  might  have  made  man  a 
machine ;  he  miglit  have  made  him  inanimate  or  unfeeling 
like  a  railway  engine,  the  groove  of  which  he  had  settled, 
and  the  course  of  which  was  as  sure  and  fixed  as  rising 
sun  and  setting  stars ;  but  this  would  not  have  been  man ; 
such  a  being  would  have  been  below  even  the  brute.  God 
made  us  with  glorious  sovereignty,  invested  with  absolute 
freedom  of  will,  free  to  retain  our  allegiance,  free  to  abjure 
it.  Because  man  was  made  so  great  at  his  original  crea- 
tion, he  was  left  therefore  so  free  in  his  election  of  the  good, 
or  his  preference  of  the  evil.  And  therefore  when  any 
complain  that  God  did  not  make  us  otherwise,  they  com- 
plain that  God  gave  us  what  they  now  insist  upon  as  their 
supreme  and  noble  prerogative,  —  freedom,  independence, 
election  of  the  good,  or  election  of  the  evil.  In  the  next 
place,  it  may  turn  out  —  nay,  we  know  from  Scripture  it 
will  turn  out,  that  greater  glory  will  redound  to  God,  and 
greater  good  to  the  vast  universe,  by  permitting  man  to  fall, 
and  providing  for  man  such  a  recovery,  than  if  God  had 
made  man  in  the  way,  and  after  the  type,  which  we  have  so 
faintly  indicated.  But  will  not  some  of  the  human  race 
perish  for  ever,  whereas  if  man  had  been  made  otherwise, 
none  would  have  been  lost?  But  why  do  they  perish? 
Not  one  souf,  as  far  as  we  are  concerned,  will  be  lost, 
except  for  neglecting  or  rejecting  the  great  salvation ;  and 
therefore,  if  man  perishes,  he  goes  to  perdition  with  the 
responsibility  resting  wholly  upon  himself.  Not  one  soul 
will  Satan  be  able  to  present  throughout  eternity  as  an  exact 
trophy  of  his  success  in  seducing  Adam  and  Eve  from  their 
first  allegiance.  Every  lost  soul  in  misery,  as  far  as  relates 
to  us,  will  be  there  a  conscious,  deliberate,  voluntary  sui- 
cide, one  that  rushed  to  hell  in  the  spite  of  a  thousand 
remonstrances  that  urged  him  to  turn  and  flee  to  God  for 
29 


338  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

safety  and  for  forgiveness.  It  may  be,  that  what  has  taken 
place  will  end  in  greater  glory  to  God,  in  greater  happiness 
to  the  creature,  than  if  man  had  been  made,  what  we  think 
he  would  have  been  so  unnaturally  made,  a  mere  machine, 
and  incapable  of  any  originating  movement  from  within. 
Another  thought  deserves  our  consideration :  this  world  is 
one  amid  ten  thousand,  or  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand. 
We  do  not  believe  that  those  vast  orbs  which  the  telescope 
brings  within  our  vision  are  empty,  or  solid,  or  mere  masses 
of  matter  only.  We  believe  that  there  are  worlds  far 
greater  than  our  own,  teeming  with  vast  populations ;  and  it 
may  be,  that  what  is  done  on  this  orb,  like  what  is  enacted 
in  Westminster  with  reference  to  the  whole  empire,  is  done 
on  one  great  and  royal  spot,  that  the  rest  of  the  orbs  of  the 
universe  may  learn  new  lessons  of  the  love,  the  mercy,  the 
justice,  the  forbearance  of  God ;  and  so  our  world  be  the 
lesson  book  of  the  universe,  the  instructress  of  all  creation. 
If  this  be  so,  we  may  discover  that  there  was  a  wisdom, 
and  a  love,  and  a  goodness,  and  a  propriety,  if  we  may  use 
that  expression,  in  what  has  taken  place,  which  does  not 
strike  us  at  first  sight,  but  which  we  shall  spend  eternity  in 
learning,  ever  as  we  turn  over  a  new  leaf  of  the  everlast- 
ing book,  and  make  a  new  step  in  the  endless  progression 
which  is  our  happy  and  blessed  destiny. 

The  whole  provision  of  the  gospel,  we  read;  is  exclusively 
of  God.  Man  never  conceived  it,  nor  ever  devised  it.  The 
great  law  of  the  gospel  economy  is,  man  shall  receive  all 
the  benefit,  God  shall  receive  all  the  glory.  It  is  a  religion 
that  came  from  God,  and  therefore  it  will  carry  man  back 
to  God.  We  never  should  forget,  that  only  a  religion  that 
comes  from  God  will  ever  conduct  the  creature  to  God ;  the 
origin  of  this  religion  of  ours  is  announced  in  these  words, 
"  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  339 

These  words  lead  us  to  conclude,  that  such  and  so  great 
was  God's  love  to  sinners,  that  he  was  ready  to  stoop  to  any 
sacrifice  short  of  the  sacrifice  of  holiness,  justice,  truth,  to 
redeem  us.  He  saw  a  race  self-ruined,  weltering  in  its 
ruins,  unahle  to  restore  or  reinstate  itself  in  its  lost  orbit. 
He  longed  and  desired  to  save  it.  His  fii-st  emotion  toward 
us  was  that  of  paternal  love ;  what  renders  this  love  the 
more  striking  is,  that  He  —  the  offended  party  —  first  loved, 
and  made  the  first  movement  toward  those  that  were  the 
offending  and  the  unrepentant  criminals.  This  is  the  great- 
ness of  that  love,  that  he  who  justly  was  angry,  who  justly 
might  have  consumed  us,  loved  us  —  loved  those,  whose 
only  desert  was  penalty,  whose  only  merit  was  punishment, 
whose  extinction  from  the  universe  would  never  have  been 
missed,  whose  accession  to  the  choirs  of  the  blessed  can  add 
no  splendors  to  God's  throne,  and  give  no  happiness  addi- 
tional to  God  himself.  Yet  this  sacrifice,  whatever  it  was, 
as  we  proceed  to  explain,  he  was  prepared  to  make  as  the 
exponent  of  his  love,  and  to  open  a  way  for  the  egress  of 
that  love,  that  we  —  rebellious  sinners,  ruined,  careless, 
thoughtless,  perishing  —  might  become  the  subjects  of  an 
everlasting  salvation. 

If  God  so  loved  us,  and  so  intensely  desired  to  save  us, 
why  did  he  not  do  it  at  once  ?  There  was  a  great  difficulty. 
The  Bible  tells  us  so,  —  for  the  Bible  is  not  simply  the 
statement  of  propositions,  but  an  appeal  to  our  judgments 
as  to  the  reasonableness  of  those  propositions.  The  whole 
Epistle  to  the  Romans  is  not  simply  a  proclamation  of  great 
truths,  but  it  is  a  vindication  of  those  truths  to  man's  judg- 
ment, and  in  the  hearing  of  man's  conscience.  This  diffi- 
culty would  seem  to  be  something  of  this  kind :  how  God 
should  receive  to  his  bosom  those  that  had  fallen  and  sinned 
against  him  equally  with  those  who  retained  their  first  and 
pristine  allegiance,  and  served  and  glorified  him  to  the  end. 


340  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

How  shall  God  manifest  himself  the  just  Sovereign  of  the 
universe,  the  holy  Governor  of  all  its  orbs,  and  yet  look 
upon  the  guilty  with  the  same  complacency  with  which  he 
looks  upon  the  innocent  and  the  unfallen.  It  would  be  a 
sorry  law  that  has  no  fixity ;  it  would  be  a  no  less  sorry  law 
that  has  no  rewards  and  punishments.  You  say,  God  is 
omnipotent.  So  he  is ;  but  although  he  can  save  a  sinner 
in  spite  of  sin,  he  cannot  save  a  sinner  in  spite  of  his  own 
holy  law.  God  cannot  cease  to  be  good,  and  just,  and  holy, 
and  faithful,  and  true.  The  grand  difhculty  is  met,  and 
mastered,  and  solved  in  the  great  fact  enunciated  in  these 
words,  "  God  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only 
begotten  Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  everlasting  life." 

Grant  the  propriety  of  the  principle  of  a  substitute, 
and  all  is  plain:  but  whether  you  grant  its  propriety  or 
not,  it  is  certainly  declared  in  the  Bible  as  fact,  that  Jesus 
Christ  took  upon  him  our  whole  responsibility,  stood  in  our 
stead,  and  dealt  with  God,  and  God  dealt  with  him,  as  if  all 
humanity  had  been  compressed,  and  personated,  and  repre- 
sented in  him.  I  am  not  discussing  the  propriety  of  this, 
or  whether  it  commends  itself  to  our  conscience  or  not, 
because  it  is  fact,  yet  a  fact  that  has  analogies  and  shadows 
in  the  world,  that  one  may  be  a  substitute  for  another  in 
some  thinnjs ;  and  if  in  some  small  things  that  come  within 
our  horizon,  why  not  in  that  great  thing  which  appertains 
to  the  word  of  God,  and  the  salvation  of  lost  humanity? 
But  whether  our  conscience  approve  it  or  not,  it  is  true, 
that  he,  the  spotless  Lamb,  arrayed  himself  in  our  tainted 
fleece ;  that  he,  the  Holy  One,  was  treated  as  if  the  greatest 
sinner;  that  he  who  was  infinitely  pure,  endured  all  that 
we  incurred  as  transgressors,  olTeyed  and  did  all  that  we 
owed  to  God  as  creatures ;  and  by  reason  of  what  he 
suffered,  our  sufferings  are  dispensed  with ;  and  by  reason 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  341 

of  what  he  did,  our  doing,  as  a  title,  is  completely  super- 
seded, and  his  is  ours.  In  Christ's  death  we  have  deliver- 
ance from  the  curse.  In  Christ's  active  obedience  we  have 
a  title  to  the  blessing ;  and  by  God  so  loving  us,  as  to  give 
such  a  sum  to  be  the  expression  of  that  love,  he  has  made  a 
provision  by  which  he  may  be  seen  to  be  just ;  for  he  has 
not  shrunk  from  inflicting  the  penalty  denounced  upon  a 
single  sinner ;  and  holy,  for  he  is  seen  so  hating  sin,  that 
even  when  that  sin  was  upon  the  only  begotten  Son,  he 
spared  him  not ;  so  true,  that  the  soul  that  sinned  has  died ; 
so  loving,  that  he  provided  this  glorious  Substitute,  that  we, 
the  otherwise  hopeless  sinners,  might  go  free,  I  see,  there- 
fore, in  the  gospel,  a  scheme  that  commends  itself  to  my 
judgment  as  answering  all  the  great  designs  of  God,  vindi- 
cating his  character,  placing  it  in  the  most  beautiful  and 
glorious  light,  and  bringing  down  to  us  a  salvation  inex- 
haustible as  the  years  of  eternity  itself. 

All  this  originated  from  his  love.  It  is  not  said,  that, 
because  Christ  has  thus  endured  what  we  deserved,  be- 
cause Christ  has  thus  done  what  we  could  not  do,  that 
therefore  God  loved  us ;  but  that  all  Christ  did  is  the  fruit 
of  God's  love.  He  loved  us,  and  therefore  Christ  came ;  it 
is  not,  Christ  came,  and  therefore  God  loved  us.  God 
loved  Adam  just  as  much  when  he  lay  amid  the  wrecks 
of  dismantled  Paradise,  as  when  he  walked  amid  the 
flowers  and  unblighted  fruits  of  Paradise  in  its  first  glory. 
God's  love  is  the  same  today  that  it  was  before  Adam  fell. 
He  so  loved  Adam  in  his  first  estate,  that  he  clothed  the 
earth  with  beauty,  and  made  his  palace  to  be  the  admiration 
of  the  universe.  He  so  loved  Adam  in  his  ruin,  that  he 
gave,  as  the  expression  of  his  love,  "  his  only  begotten  Son, 
that  whosoever  believeth  iti  him  should  not  perish,  but  have 
everlasting'  life."  He  so  loved  Adam  in  his  innocence,  that 
he  made  every  thing  a  ministry  to  his  pleasure.  He  so 
29* 


342  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

loved  Adam  in  his  ruin,  that  he  touched  the  earth  with  the 
blood  of  his  incarnate  Son,  that  poor  lost  Adam's  sins 
might  be  forgiven,  and  that  he,  the  refugee  and  rebel,  might 
be  restored  to  his  lost  and  forfeited  allegiance.  That  same 
iove  that  rolls,  like  an  illuminated  sea,  in  the  realms  of  the 
blessed,  one  wave  of  which,  sweeping  over  Paradise,  made 
its  immortal  soil  burst  into  blossom,  and  fruit,  and  beauty, 
sent  down  its  richest  embodiment  when  it  crowned  all  its 
previous  expressions  by  this  last  and  greatest  one  —  the 
gift  of  Christ  to  be  our  Saviour. 

In  this  provision  of  Christ  Jesus,  salvation  is  possible 
where  it  was  impossible  before ;  God's  love  is  accessible 
where  it  was  inaccessible  before;  a  door  in  heaven  is 
opened  where  there  was  no  door  before ;  access  to  God  is 
permitted  where  there  was  no  access  before  ;  and  through 
Christ  the  sinful  creature,  can  do  what  once  the  unfallen 
creature  alone  could  do  —  draw  near  to  God's  footstool,  and 
see  its  Father  and  its  God.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that 
the  provision  in  the  gospel  commends  itself  to  the  judgment 
of  man,  and  approves  itself  to  be,  what  the  poor  Greek  in 
his  folly  denied  it  to  be,  "  the  wisdom  of  God,"  as  well  as 
"  the  power  of  God,  unto  salvation." 

I  may  illustrate  what  I  mean  for  those  to  whom  an 
illustration  might  be  more  instructive  in  this  way.  Con- 
ceive a  vast  inclosure  situated  in  some  central  part  of  the 
globe ;  conceive  that  inclosure  to  contain  within  it,  like  an 
hospital,  the  dying,  and,  like  a  churchyard,  the  dead. 
Suppose  that  one  in  glory,  like  unto  the  Son  of  man,  looks 
down  upon  it,  sympathizes  with  the  dying,  and  weeps,' as  he 
wept  for  dead  Lazarus,  over  its  dead.  Suppose  he  has 
resolved,  in  the  might  of  his  sympathy,  to  retrieve,  recover, 
save  it,  if  it  be  possible.  He  comes  down  from  that  height 
of  splendor  in  which  he  dwelt  from  everlasting  —  "the  Man 
that  is  God's  fellow "  —  to  this  inclosure  of  the  dying  and 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  343 

the  dead ;  he  approaches  one  gate,  and  he  asks  if  he,  the 
Omnipotent  to  save,  may  be  admitted,  that  he  may  save ; 
and  the  sentinel  of  that  gate  says,  "  My  name  is  Justice ; 
all  within  have  been  weighed  in  the  balance,  they  are  found 
wanting,  and  none  may  approach  to  deliver  them."  He 
applies  at  another  gate,  and  at  that  gate  is  another  sentinel, 
whose  name  is  Holiness,  and  his  answer  is,  "  They  are 
fallen,  sinful,  polluted.  All  outside  is  the  region  of  purity, 
all  inside  is  the  region  of  corruption  and  of  sin ;  and  they 
cannot  be  permitted  to  breathe  that  holy  air,  and  to  gaze 
upon  that  unfallen  spot  where  you  have  been,  and  where 
I  am."  He  approaches  another,  where  he  finds  Truth. 
She  replies,  "  I  have  said  it ;  I  proclaimed  on  Sinai  what 
would  have  been  true  if  I  had  never  proclaimed  it ;  what  is 
not  true  because  I  have  proclaimed  it,  but  what  would  have 
been  true  if  it  had  never  been  heard  by  mortal  ear ;  '  The 
soul  that  sins,  it  shall  die.'  These  have  sinned,  and  die  they 
must,  and  live  they  cannot."  This  Visitant  returns  to  his 
celestial  abode,  and  he  puts  the  question  there,  "  What  is  to 
be  done?"  and  the  mighty  problem  conceived  by  infinite 
Wisdom,  and  originated  from  infinite  Love,  is  made  known, 
that  God  will  deal  with  these  dying  and  dead  ones  by  a 
Substitute,  and  if  one  can  be  found  who  will  just  stand  in 
their  stead,  and  exhaust  the  penalty  that  they  have  incurred, 
and  obey  that  law,  that  infallible  law,  which  they  cannot 
obey,  then  they  shall  go  free.  That  heavenly  Visitant 
returns  to  the  same  place,  and  there  goes  outside  the  camp : 
he  suffers,  and  weeps,  and  bleeds,  and  dies ;  and  after  he 
has  done  so,  and  risen  from  the  grave,  and  ascended  to  his 
Father  and  to  our  Father,  to  his  God  and  to  our  God,  he 
proclaims  what  is  done ;  and  Justice  replies,  "  I  am  satis- 
fied; the  gates  are  opened;"  and  Truth  replies,  "I  am 
satisfied ;  let  the  gates  be  opened ; "  and  Holiness  replies, 
"  I  am  satisfied  ;  let  the  gates  be  opened ; "  and  one  mighty 


344        THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 

puls^  of  love,  from  the  heart  of  all  love,  thrills  through 
every  grave  ;  and  one  mighty  wave  of  healing,  from  the 
Fountain  of  all  healing,  rolls  through  every  breast ;  and  the 
dead  live,  the  diseased  are  healed ;  and  mercy  and  truth 
moet  together;  truth,  and  righteousness,  and  peace  kiss 
each  other ;  and  there  is  salvation  for  the  worst  of  sinners, 
in  a  way  and  by  a  process  that  reflects  the  greatest  glory 
upon  Him  that  "  so  loved  us,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten 
Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life." 

But  I  have  viewed  the  provisions  very  much  as  a  chan- 
nel by  which  God's  love  can  come  forth  to  us,  or  as  a  pro- 
vision in  which  holiness,  truth,  and  justice  ^orm  themselves 
into  a  channel  by  which  God's  love  may  reach  us.  I  view 
it  as  more  than  this.  The  gift  of  Christ  is  precious,  not 
only  for  what  it  conveys  to  us,  but  because  of  what  it 
expresses  and  embodies  to  us.  The  gift  of  a  Saviour 
teaches  me  two  things  :  first,  that  it  is  possible  now  for 
God's  mercy  to  reach  me,  a^d  to  forgive  me :  and  next, 
that  God  so  loves  and  longs  to  sav^  me,  that  to  convince  me 
of  the  height,  and  length,  and  breadth  of  that  love,  he  gave 
as  the  exponent  of  it  —  his  only  begotten  Son,  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Now,  what  am  I  taught  by  this  ?  I  am 
taught  by  this  blessed  provision,  in  its  first  aspect,  that  I 
may  be  saved,  admitted  into  heaven,  numbered  with  those 
that  are  there,  but  still,  it  may  be,  a  stranger  to  God,  and 
God  a  stranger  to  nae,  tolerated  in  heaven  as  one  legally 
acquitted  and  no  more ;  but  I  am  taught  by  this  provision 
in  its  second  aspect,  that  I  shall  be  welcomed  into  heaven, 
that  I  shall  be  received,  not  as  a  servant,  but  a  son ;  that  I 
shall  not  only  be  acquitted  by  a  legislator  legally,  but 
accepted  by  a  Father  with  all  the  expressions  of  paternal 
love;  and  that  I  shall  be  in  heaven,  not  merely  as  one 
legally  there,  but  as  one  whose  admission  into  its  realms 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  "       345 

shall  start  long-slumbering  songs,  and  be  responded  to  by 
sympathy  from  God  and  all  the  holy  ones  who  have  pre- 
ceded me  to  glory.  And  thus  the  gift  of  a  Saviour  is  not 
only  a  channel  along  which  it  is  possible  for  God's  love  to 
reach  me,  and  along  which  it  is  possible  for  me  to  reach 
God,  but  it  is  also  to  me  an  index,  or  evidence,  of  the  rich- 
ness of  that  sovereign  love  that  God  bears  to  me,  a  poor 
sinner.  "  God  so  loved  us."  What  immensity  of  meaning 
is  condensed  in  that  monosyllable  "  so  I "  "  He  so  loved  me, 
that,"  in  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  "  he  spared  not  his  only 
Son."  What  that  relationship  of  Son  is,  we  know  not ;  we 
can  form  no  just  conception  of  it ;  and  the  greatest  light  is 
cast  upon  it  when  we  leave  it  to  shine  in  its  own  untouched 
magnificence  and  glory.  God's  love  to  stars,  and  flowers, 
and  created  things  is  one  thing;  God's  love  to  angels  is 
another  thing ;  God's  love  to  sinners  is  different  from  both ; 
God's  love  to  his  own  Son  is  something  so  unique,  so  pecu- 
liar, so  raised  above  our  apprehension  or  the  reach  of  our 
sympathies,  that  all  we  know  is,  that  when  God  sj)ared  not 
his  own  Son,  he  showed  in  so  doing  a  love  at  which  an 
apostle  who  had  been  in  the  third  heaven,  unable  to  fathom 
it,  exclaims,  "O  the  height,  and  depth,  and  length,  and 
breadth  ;  it  passeth  understanding ! " 

Let  us  notice  here  the  expression,  "  gave."  Every  word 
is  instinct  with  meaning.  It*is  not  said  here,  that  he  "  per- 
mitted "  his  Son  to  die.  It  is  said,  "  He  gave,"  or,  as  it  is 
expressed  by  Paul,  "  He  spared  not  his  only  begotten  Son." 
That  expression  alone  is  a  shadaw  of  the  height  and  depth 
of  that  love. 

When  he  gave  Christ,  he  did  not  compel  an  unwilling 
being  to  become  a  substitute  for  us,  but  he  gave  one  who 
rejoiced  to  take  our  place,  whose  love  was  the  same  as  the 
Father's,  and  who  rejoiced  to  array  himself  in  our  responsi- 
bilities, and  to  die  for  us,  that  we  might  never  die.     I  have 


346  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

always  felt  that  the  Socinian  who  denies  the  Deity  of  Christ, 
most  consistently  denies  the  atonement  of  Christ  —  I  mean, 
the  atonement  as  we  understand  the  word  to  mean ;  for  it 
seems  to  me,  that  if  Christ  were  a  mere  creature,  there  has 
something  occurred  in  the  dispensation  of  God  inconsistent 
with  the  revelation  he  has  given  of  himself.  If  Christ  were 
a  mere  creature,  most  innocent,  most  spotless,  most  holy,  as 
the  Socinian  ever  admits  him  to  be,  then  how  can  you 
explain  this  fact,  that  the  holiest  being  in  the  whole  uni- 
verse was  made  by  God  himself  to  be  the  greatest  sufferer 
in  the  whole  universe  ?  The  great  law  of  God  is,  that  holi- 
ness is  perfect  happiness,  that  sin  is  misery.  Then,  how 
happens  it  that  the  holiest  being,  who  justly  came  under  the 
law  that  perfect  holiness  is  perfect  happiness,  has  not  merely 
become  through  man's  wickedness,  but  by  God's  direct 
arrangement,  the  greatest  sufferer  ?  It  would  seem,  that  if 
God  were  not  there,  his  dying  was  worth  nothing  as  a  sub- 
stitution or  an  atonement ;  he  had  no  right  to  lay  down  his 
life.  A  creature's  life  is  not  at  his  disposal.  A  man  who 
commits  suicide  is  just  as  guilty  as  one  who  slays  another, 
that  is,  if  he  be  in  possession  of  his  mind.  I  have  no  right 
to  lay  down  my  life  for  another,  however  much  I  may  love 
him.  But  Christ  says,  "  I  lay  down  my  life,  that  I  might 
take  it  again.  No  man  taketh  it  from  me,  but  I  lay  it 
down  of  myself;  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have 
power  to  take  it  again."  In  other  words,  he  died  volun- 
tarily ;  and  the  fact  that  he  accepted  the  death  that  he  suf- 
fered ;  that  he  endured  the  cross  ;  that  he  laid  down  his 
life  willingly,  and  not  reluctantly,  is  proof  he  was  God  as 
truly  as  man  —  God  in  our  nature,  as  a  substitution  for  our 
sins.  Thus  he  died,  not  a  reluctant  victim,  but  a  willing 
Saviour,  for  us  and  for  our  salvation.  All  his  sorrow  and 
sufferings  were  as  much  the  exponents  of  his  love,  as  the 
evidences  of  his  atonement.     I  need  not  now  dwell  on  some 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  347 

instances  there  are  in  heathen  history,  and  in  Scripture  nar- 
rative, of  great  love.  Barak  and  Deborah  jeoparding  their 
lives  in  the  high  places  of  the  field,  indicated  great  love,  but 
it  was  for  their  own.  Gideon  fighting  for  the  Shechemites, 
not  fearing  death,  braving  danger,  displayed  great  love,  but 
it  was  for  his  own.  David's  love  for  Absalom  was  beauti- 
ful, but  it  was  for  a  son.  David's  love  for  Jonathan  was 
beautiful,  but  it  was  the  love  of  great  friendship.  But  here 
is  the  great  unparalleled  and  unprecedented  fact,  that  God 
loved  us,  that  "  herein  is  love,  that  while  we  were  yet  sin- 
ners Christ  died  for  us." 

Now,  what  is  the  result  of  all  this  provision  ?  It  is, 
"that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but 
have  eternal  life."  "  Whosoever  believeth."  I  have  waived 
all  the  comparatively  paltry  discussions  in  which  mere  Cal- 
vinists  and  Arminians  waste  their  time,  as  to  the  extent  of 
this  atonement.  May  it  not  be  possible  in  our  creeds  to 
hold  the  highest  Calvinism,  whilst  in  our  sermons  we  preach 
what  may  be  thought  Arminianism  ?  May  not  one  preach 
the  sovereignty  of  grace,  and  yet  unfold  the  grand  provision 
of  the  gospel,  and  man's  responsibility  for  its  rejection? 
Not  otherwise  shall  we  present  the  gospel  in  its  true  glory. 
The  high  Calvinist  gives  a  profile  of  Christianity ;  the  low 
Arminian  gives  the  other  profile  of  it ;  while  he  who  neither 
preaches  Calvinism  nor  Arminianism,  but  the  glorious  gos- 
pel of  Christ,  gives  the  truest  view  of  Christianity.  "What 
then  does  "  the  world  "  mean  ?  It  means  tht)se  that  do  not 
deserve  to  be  saved ;  those  that  have  no  instinctive  desire  to 
be  saved ;  those  that  were  lost,  ruined,  and  undone,  and 
neither  were  able  nor  willing  to  help  themselves.  Christ  so 
loved  these,  that  whosoever  believeth  in  him  shall  not  perish, 
but  have  everlasting  life.  "  Whosoever  "  is  the  limit.  All 
caste,  and  color,  and  country,  and  clime,  so  far  as  their 
moral  conditions  are  involved,  are  obliterated  in  the  pro- 


l348  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

vision  of  the  gospel.  Those  words,  "  It  is  finished,"  rent 
the  partition  walls  of  ten  thousand  distinctions.  Those  dis- 
tinctions which  raised  so  high  their  adamantine  walls  upon  the 
earth,  and  that  still  look  to  us  so  impassable,  are  swept  away 
like  sand  ridges  before  the  outflowing  tide  of  that  love  that 
gave  Christ  to  die  for  us.  It  is  a  love  that  can  overflow  all 
heights,  that  can  satisfy  all  wants,  that  has  provided  a 
Saviour  for  all  that  will,  without  exception,  without  limita- 
tion of  any  sort  or  any  shape  whatever. 

These  words  contemplate  only  two  great  classes ;  those 
that  have  eternal  life,  and  those  that  are  perishing  — 
"Whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,"  —  that 
implies  one  class  —  "  but  have  eternal  life  "  —  that  is  the 
other  class. 

What  is  perishing  ?  I  have  examined  the  word  that  is 
translated  "  perish,"  in  various  Lexicons,  and  find  one  of  its 
leading  ideas  to  be,  "  to  be  wretched,"  "  to  be  miserable," 
"  to  be  undone."  The  Greek  gambler,  when  he  was  ruined, 
used  the  Greek  word,  " perished,"  —  "I  am  miserable  and 
ruined  for  life."  And,  therefore,  the  meaning  of  this  pas- 
sage is,  "  Whosoever  believeth  in  him  should  not  be  ruined 
for  ever  and  for  ever."  It  does  not  mean  annihilation,  but 
"  living,  lasting  consciousness  of  evil."  It  is  better  to  show 
that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  our  being  instantly  saved, 
than  to  try  to  induce  men  to  cry,  "  Peace,  peace,"  by  the 
wretched  sophistry  that  hell  is  only  a  kind  of  Protestant 
purgatory,  in  which  they  will  be  purged  for  a  season.  It 
means,  perished  and  ruined  eternally,  and  yet  not  by  a 
decree  of  God.  The  stone  let  drop  from  the  height,  needs 
not  to  be  impelled  by  any  other  than  the  law  of  gravitation : 
it  falls  to  the  ground  naturally.  The  man  who  was  bitten 
by  the  serpent  in  the  wilderness  did  not  die  because  Moses 
had  decreed  it  so,  or  because  the  serpent  by  its  operation 
made  it  so,  but  he  did  by  the  very  fact  that  he  refused  to 


THE    EVERLASTING    GOSPEL.  349 

look  at  that  symbol,  looking  at  which  would  have  given  him 
instant  health.  Even  so,  the  sinner  who  is  not  saved 
through  the  blood  and  sacrifice  of  Jesus,  does  not  perish  by 
a  decree  sinking  him  to  the  depths  of  ruin,  but,  while  he 
rejects  Christ,  by  the  very  necessity  of  his  case.  The 
effect  of  sin  is  distance  from  God,  and  the  action  of  sin  is 
to  increase  that  distance  more  and  more,  and  the  meaning 
of  hell  is  just  the  endless  retrogression  or  distance  from 
God ;  just  as  God's  love  and  salvation  are  the  elements  of 
endless  approximation  to  God ;  and  the  definition  of  heaven 
is,  a  ceaseless  centripetal  attraction,  under  which  the  ran- 
somed is  ever  approaching  God,  ever  drinking  deeper  and 
deeper  joys,  and  yet  never  reaching  that  infinite  and  glo- 
rious centre ;  and  hence  by  the  very  law  of  the  sufferings 
of  the  lost,  the  longer  they  live,  the  more  terrible  their 
catastrophe  becomes.  Perishing,  has  compressed  in  it  an 
amount  of  sorrow,  and  agony,  and  woe,  that  many  would 
pronounce  to  be  exaggeration  were  they  to  hear  one  attempt 
to  unfold  and  explain  it.  Are  we  in  this  class  ?  We  have 
not  to  do  something  in  order  to  be  cast  into  it :  we  are  born 
members  of  this  class ;  we  are  born  in  this  company ;  we 
begin  to  fall  the  instant  we  come  into  the  world,  and  our 
downward  tendency  must  be  met  and  arrested  by  the  inter- 
position of  the  truths  contained  in  the  gospel,  before  we  can 
ever  return  and  be  numbered  in  the  condition  of  those  I 
describe  in  the  next  place  —  those  that  have  eternal  life; 
this  is  the  second  class. 

What  is  meant  by  "eternal  life?"  Those  that  have 
embraced  the  new,  and,  I  think,  the  most  unscriptural  the- 
ology, say,  that  "  eternal  life  "  means,  that  those  who  believe 
in  this  will  simply  live  for  ever,  while  those  that  reject  the 
gospel  will  after  a  season  be  utterly  annihilated.  Surely  this 
expression,  "  eternal  life,"  as  used  in  the  Bible,  means  some- 
thing more  than  endless  progression  of  life,  or  simply  cease- 
30 


350  THE   CHURCH  BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

lessly  living.  Did  you  ever  hear  it  asserted  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, or  did  you  ever  hear  it  said  by  any  man,  that  Satan 
and  his  angels  have  eternal  life  ?  Does  not  the  very  state- 
ment revolt  the  very  deepest  and  holiest  instincts  of  our 
nature  ?  We  dare  not  say,  Satan  has  eternal  life ;  and  yet 
Satan  will  live  for  ever  and  for  ever.  This  "  eternal  life '' 
does  not  mean  mere  endless  life,  but  a  nobler  and  more  glo- 
rious life,  —  a  life  that  man  lost  in  Paradise,  and  that  is 
only  found  at  the  cross,  —  a  life  that  unites  to  life,  and 
gives  responsibilities  to  which  the  natural  man  is  altogether 
dead.  A  man  who  has  this  life,  moves  in  a  new  orbit ;  he 
is  under  the  attraction  of  a  new  power ;  all  the  affections 
of  his  soul  are  resonant  with  the  songs  of  the  blessed ;  and 
his  heart  beats  under  the  touch  of  the  finger  of  infinite 
Love.  The  Spirit  tells  him,  and  the  blessed  consciousness 
of  it  assures  him,  "  We  know  that  we  have  eternal  life." 

"  This  has  power  to  make 
Our  noisy  years  seem  moments  in  the  being 
Of  the  eternal  silence. 
Though  inland  far  we  be, 
Our  souls  have  sight  of  that  immortal  sea, 
Which  brought  us  hither; 
Can  in  a  moment  travel  thither, 
And  see  the  children  sport  upon  the  shore, 
And  hear  the  mighty  waters  rolling  eve'rmore." 

Our  conscious  possession  of  this  eternal  life  is  the  element 
of  our  greatest  happiness.  It  is  not  a  life  that  time  meas- 
ures, it  is  in  itself  so  peculiar,  so  glorious,  so  blessed,  that  a 
believer  knows  what  jit  is,  and  yet  he  cannot  unfold  and 
explain  it  to  any  one  besides.  It  is  the  conscious  possession 
of  this  eternal  life  that  makes  us  meet  death  as  a  mere 
slight  interruption  in  our  upward  and  glorious  progress. 
"VVe  feel  that  when  we  shall  lay  down  this  mortal,  we  shall 
leave  but  a  little  dust  behind  us,  the  abandonment  of  which 


THE   EVERLASTING   GOSPEL.  351 

only  enables  us  to  put  forth  new  wings,  and  to  soar  to  new 
realms,  and  to  enjoy  in  all  its  splendor  and  its  fulness  that 
life  which  endures  for  ever. 

But  the  language  of  Jesus  is,  "Whosoever  believeth" 
hath  eternal  life.  The  assurance  of  heaven  does  not  mean 
that  a  man  leaps  from  the  love  and  the  practice  of  sin  into  a 
sort  of  Mahometan  Paradise,  or  Pagan  Elysium ;  he  that 
believes  on  the  Son  of  God  has  eternal  life.  It  is  a  per- 
sonal and  present  prerogative,  and  he  that  has  it  is  conscious 
of  it.  If  we  are  destined  to  enter  into  heaven,  we  must 
carry  heaven  with  us  now.  If  there  never  has  been  a  little 
heaven  within  us  upon  earth,  we  shall  never  enter  into  a 
larger  heaven  with  God  in  glory.  Heaven  begins  in  the 
individual  bosom,  and  culminates  in  the  glory  that  is  to  be 
revealed.  The  love  of  God  comes  to  us  in  the  shape  of 
life ;  it  remains  within  us  in  the  form  of  life,  and  that  life 
flowers  in  everlasting  joy  and  felicity. 

These  are  the  two  great  classes  of  mankind  —  those  that 
have  from  the  first  Adam  naked  audi  perishing  souls ;  and 
those  that  have  from  the "  second  Adam  everlasting  life. 
There  may  be  circumstantial,  national,  ecclesiastical,  physi- 
cal, moral  distinctions,  but  all  these  are  evanescent  as  the 
clouds  that  sweep  through  the  sky.  These  two  great,  broad 
distinctions  are  lasting  as  the  great  bright  stars  that  shine 
still  and  far  beyond  us ;  they  who  belong  to  the  company  of 
the  lost  —  and  of  all  categories  that  is  the  most  awful  —  or 
they  who  belong  to  the  glorious  company  of  the  saved,  and 
are  now  living,  justified,  and  adopted.  Let  us  not  look  at 
heaven  as  if  it  were  all  in  the  future,  but  recollect  it  must 
begin  now  in  the  individual  heart.  All  that  the  judgment- 
day  does,  is  to  perpetuate  what  is  now.  "  He  that  is  unjust, 
let  him  be  unjust  still ;  he  that  is  unholy,  let  him  be  unholy 
still "  —  that  is  hell.  In  fact,  Christ  continues  the  impulse 
that  began  on  earth,  and  that  impulse  is  everlasting  heaven ; 


352  THE    CnUKCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

and  Christ  permits  in  them  that  believe  not  the  impulse  that 
began  at  birth,  and  that  impulse,  unarrested,  is  everlasting 
hell. 

But  whilst  there  is  this  broad  distinction,  let  me  explain 
very  briefly  how  one  may  be  changed.  "  Whosoever  be- 
lieveth."  Then  there  must  be  a  personal  act  on  our  part. 
No  man  finds  himself  in  heaven,  and  is  surprised  how  he 
ever  got  there.  No  man  finds  himself  among  the  lost,  and 
is  startled  by  the  unexpected  discovery.  Every  man  knows 
in  his  calmest  and  most  solemn  moments  quite  w^ell  whither 
he  is  going.  He  sometimes  so  trembles  at  his  own  thoughts, 
that  he  will  not  let  himself  hear  the  whispers  of  his  own 
conscience.  Many  a  man  would  rather  face  a  foe  armed 
with  all  the  weapons  of  battle,  than  his  own  conscience ; 
and  the  struggle  of  thousands  every  day  is  to  get  rid  of  the 
monitions  of  that  faithful  monitor  within  —  the  presenti- 
ments, and  prophecies,  and  forebodings  of  a  conscience,  that 
knows  quite  well  whether  it  be  at  peace  with  God,  or  still  a 
stranger  altogether  to  the  gospel.  Before  this  change  can 
take  place,  you  must  believe  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  is,  "  Who- 
soever believeth  ; "  not,  "  Whosoever  doeth,"  "  Whosoever 
suifereth,"  "Whosoever  payeth,"  but  "Whosoever  believ- 
eth." But,  what  is  believing  ?  Just  putting  confidence  in 
this  testimony  of  God ;  it  is  the  acquiescence  of  the  inmost 
man  in  this  blessed  truth,  that  there  is  now  a  provision  so 
glorious,  that  God's  mercy  can  reach  me  while  it  reflects  his 
own  glory ;  that  there  is  now  a  Saviour,  the  exponent  of 
God's  love  for  me  —  why  not  for  me  ?  —  and  believing  thus, 
I  am  justified  by  faith,  and  have  peace  with  God.  It  is  the 
simplicity  of  the  gospel  that  is,  unfortunately,  shall  we  say, 
its  greatest  stumbling-block.  Too  many  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  by  giving  elaborate  metaphysical  disquisitions  on 
subjective  and  objective  divinity,  upon  faith,  and  virtue,  and 
vice,  obscure   that  glorious   truth,  which  comes  with  the 


THE   EVERLASTING   GOSPEL.  353 

Splendor  and  the  simplicity  of  the  sunbeam,  "'Whosoever 
believeth  in  the  Son  of  God  shall  not  perish,  but  have 
eternal  life."  It  is  just  confidence  in  God,  confidence  in  the 
testifier,  confidence  in  the  testimony.  It  is  coming  to  him 
penetrated  with  a  deep  sense  of  our  ruin,  and  with  a  lively 
apprehension  of  the  perfection  of  the  work  of  him  who 
came  to  save  us.  But,  you  perhaps  say,  Am  I  quite  sure  it 
is  for  me  ?  The  question  is,  "Why  not  for  me  ?  You  are 
not  to  sit  down,  and  say,  Why  for  me?  but  you  are  to 
explain  and  answer  this  expression,  Why  not  for  me  ?  You 
are  a  sinner,  you  are  lost,  you  are  perishing.  Then  you  are 
the  very  person  that  Christ  came  to  save ;  and  if  you  see 
this,  and  rely  upon  this  glorious  provision,  and  look  to  glory, 
and  happiness,  and  heaven  in  the  strength  of  it,  and  say,  I 
will  show  how  thankful  I  am  by  how  holy  I  live,  and  by 
delighting  to  do  all  the  commandments  of  him  who  loved 
me,  then  you  have  peace.  Just  as  the  Israelite  dying  in 
the  desert  looked  to  the  brazen  serpent,  and  that  instant 
recovered,  so  the  sinner,  serpent  stung,  dying,  perishing,  in 
this  world's  desert,  is  called  upon  simply  to  look  at,  to 
believe  on,  to  put  confidence  in  Christ,  and  to  have  thus 
everlasting  life.  It  is  just  taking  God  at  his  own  word;  it 
is  saying  from  the  very  heart,  "  Amen,"  to  all  that  God  has 
done. 

The  great  sin  that  will  be  the  destruction  of  not  a  few 
will  be,  that  they  knew  this,  and  despised  it;  that  they 
heard  this,  and  perished  notwithstanding.  The  text  is  the 
first  note  of  the  everlasting  jubilee;  to  believe  in  this  is 
your  instant  duty.  Do  not  say,  "  I  cannot."  Cannot !  You 
can  put  confidence  in  the  Bank  of  England,  confidence  in 
your  parent,  confidence  in  your  brother,  confidence  in  a 
merchant,  and  cannot  put  confidence  in  God !  Are  you  not 
ashamed  to  say,  "  I  cannot  believe  ?  "  And  if  you  are  con- 
scious that  you  cannot,  do  you  not  know  of  him  who  said, 
30* 


354  THE    CHURCH    BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

"  Mj  strengtli  is  made  perfect  in  weakness/'  "  Ask,  and  ye 
shall  receive."  The  consciousness  that  you  cannot  believe, 
is  the  first  pulse  of  everlasting  life ;  but  the  declaration  of 
want  of  confidence  in  God  expressed  by  "  I  cannot,"  is  only 
a  deceptive  way  of  saying,  "  I  will  not." 

Let  us  not  die  with  bread  before  us.  I  believe  the  most 
awful  ruin  is  that  which  begins  its  descent  on  Calvary,  and 
at  the  foot  of  the  cross :  the  most  terrible  midnight  is  that 
whose  twilight  begins  by  the  setting  of  the  Sun  of  right- 
eousness here  below.  Flee  from  the  wrath  to  come;  be 
Christians.  Arise,  and  go  to  your  Father,  who  "  so  loved 
you,  that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal  life." 


CHAPTER   XX. 

FAITH    AND    HOPE. 

"  The  steps  of  faith 
Fall  on  the  seeming  void,  and  find 
The  Eock  beneath." 

"  Now  faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things 
not  seen."  —  Hebkews  xi.  1. 

We  have  seen  a  portion  of  the  "  cloud  of  witnesses  "  in 
the  Church  before  the  Flood.  They  walked  by  faith  in  the 
days  of  Noah,  as  we  do  now.  Faith  was  the  secret  of  their 
victory,  as  it  is  of  ours. 

Man  can  easily  understand,  in  his  natural  condition,  why 
love,  obedience,  and  truth  should  be  commanded  in  the 
Scriptures.  These  are  graces  which  he  can  admire,  even 
when  he  refuses  to  practice  and  embody  them  in  his  conduct. 
But  the  mere  natural  man,  unacquainted  with  the  great 
truths  of  the  gospel,  is  unable  to  comprehend  why  faith 
should  be  made  so  much  of  in  every  part  of  the  gospel. 
For  example,  it  seems  to  him  rather  the  ground  for  an 
objection  to  Christianity,  than  a  reason  for  its  Divine  origin ; 
that  men  should  be  exhorted  so  often  to  believe,  and,  as'  he 
supposes,  should  be  exhorted  so  seldom  to  do,  to  act,  to  obey. 
He  reads  such  passages  as  these,  "  If  ye  have  faith  as  a 
grain  of  mustard-seed,  ye  shall  say  to  this  mountain, 
Remove  hence  to  yonder  place ;  and  it  shall  remove ;  and 
nothing  shall  be  impossible  unto  you."     He  reads  again, 


356  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

"  The  just  shall  live  by  faith."  He  reads  also,  "  Justified 
by  faith,  we  have  peace  with  God."  Again,  when  the  ques- 
tion was  asked,  in  the  agony  of  overwhelming  and  poignant 
conviction,  "  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ? "  he  reads  that 
the  answer  was  not,  "  Climb  to  heaven,"  nor,  "  Purchase 
heaven  by  your  good  deeds,"  nor,  "  Obey  and  be  rewarded," 
as  rational  men  would  suppose ;  but,  "  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  And  he  reads 
again  that,  not  self-reliance,  not  courage,  not  strength,  not 
might,  not  power,  either  were  or  are  the  victory  that  overcom- 
eth  the  world ;  but  "  this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh  the 
world,  even  our  faith."  He  cannot  understand  it.  It  seems 
to  him  evident  that  the  system  is  not  Divine  that  inculcates 
a  grace  which,  he  conceives,  may  live  and  flourish  in  its 
intensest  form,  without  the  fruits  of  purity,  truth,  and  holi- 
ness. 

We  are  perfectly  aware  that  faith,  severed  from  love, 
may  be  a  mere  conviction  in  the  head,  unproductive  of  any 
real  good.  But,  whilst  faith,  when  it  is  alone  as  a  mere 
intellectual  conviction,  and  no  more,  may  be  worth  nothing ; 
yet  there  is  not  a  grace  in  the  Christian  character  that  has 
vitality  or  fragrance  without  faith.  Love  severed  from 
faith  is  a  blossom  nipped  from  the  branch  on  which  it  grows. 
Duty  severed  from  faith  becomes  a  hard,  stiff,  rigid  perform- 
ance. Only  when  inspired,  sustained,  and  invigorated  by  it, 
does  the  blossom  bloom  in  amaranthine  beauty,  and  develop 
itself  in  precious  truth  and  duty,  and  reflect  the  light  of 
glory  in  the  sky. 

It  is,  however,  very  remarkable,  that  Paul,  the  "  apostle 
of  faith,"  as  he  has  been  called,  gives  the  most  exquisite 
definition  and  illustration  of  love ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
John,  the  "apostle  of  love,"  attributes  most  to  faith. 
Who  can  forget  that  beautiful  chapter,  "  Though  I  speak 
with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of  angels,  and  have  not  love,  I 


FAITH  AND   HOPE.  357 

am  become  as  sounding  brass  or  a  tinkling  cymbal.  And 
though  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  all  mys- 
teries, and  all  knowledge;  and  though  I  have  all  faith," 
says  the  apostle  of  faith,  "  so  that  I  could  remove  moun- 
tains, and  have  not  love,  I  am  nothing "  ?  On  the  other 
hand,  when  we  turn  to  John,  who  dwelt  so  much  on  love, 
the  apostle  that  Jesus  loved,  in  whom  the  human  sympa- 
thies of  Jesus  so  much  centred,  and  ask  him  what  he  thinks 
of  faith,  he  answers,  "  Who  is  he  that  overcometh  the  w^orld, 
but  he  that'  believeth  ?  "  "  Whatsoever  is  born  of  God  over- 
cometh the  world :  and  this  is  the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world,  even  our  faith."  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son 
of  God  hath  the  witness  in  himself."  "  These  things  have  I 
written  unto  you  that  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of 
God  ;  that  ye  may  know  that  ye  have  eternal  life,  and  that 
ye  may  believe  on  the  name  of  the  Son  of  God."  Paul, 
who  is  suspected  by  some  of  laying  too  much  stress  on  faith, 
gives  the  grandest  picture  of  love ;  and  John,  who  is  sus- 
pected by  others  of  laying  "too  much  stress  upon  love, 
attributes,  nevertheless,  in  the  midst  of  his  portraiture  of 
love,  the  strength,  and  force,  and  victory  to  faith. 

The  truth  is,  that  faith  is  the  root  underground,  not 
always  seen ;  and  because  it  feeds  upon  the  unseen.  We 
trace  faith  not  by  seeing  it,  but  by  seeing  its  fruits.  It  is 
the  hidden  force,  coiled  up  in  the  regenerated  heart,  which 
gives  birth  to  that  victory  over  sin  and  Satan  and  the 
world,  which  is  described  as  more  than  victory,  through 
him  that  loved  us. 

The  true  definition  of  faith,  when  we  take  the  original 
word  for  our  guide,  is  not  an  abstract,  intellectual  belief,  if 
that  be  possible;  but  "confidence"  —  (Ttiarig).  It  is  the 
same  to  the  mind,  that  leaning  on  a  stick,  or  a  wall,  or  on  a 
foundation,  or  on  any  other  support,  is  to  the  body.  It  is 
not  a  cold  conviction  that  lies  in  the  understanding ;  but  a 


358  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

warm,  generous  confidence,  that  lives  in  the  innermost 
recesses  of  the  heart.  That  man  does  not  truly  believe, 
who  does  not  bring  head  and  heart  to  rely  upon  "  the  Lamb 
of  God  that  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world." 

Is  it  objected  by  some,  that  the  gospel  lays  too  much 
stress  upon  this  confidence  —  for  we  may  translate  the  word 
very  properly  "  confidence."  I  answer,  is  not  faith,  or  con- 
fidence, the  very  cement  of  the  whole  structure,  and  pyra- 
mid of  social  life.  Without  faith,  or  confidence  in  the  laws 
of  nature,  as  they  are  commonly  called,  the  farmer  would 
not  sow,  the  man  of  business  would  not  enter  into  engage- 
ments or  make  promises,  and  the  sailor  would  not  attempt 
to  cross  the  Atlantic.  The  artisan  would  not  labor,  except 
he  had  faith  that  the  market  would  be  open,  and  accessible 
to  the  products  of  his  labor.  In  other  words,  by  faith  the 
farmer  sows,  the  merchant  speculates,  the  sailor  goes  to 
sea,  and  the  artisan  engages  in  his  daily  toil.  Whether  we 
like  it  or  not,  the  just  and  the  unjust  live  by  faith.  The 
just  live  a  higher  Hfe,  the  unjust  live  a  lower,  but  both  must 
live  by  faith.  Take  away  this  "  faith  "  —  or  "  confidence  " 
—  and  what  is  the  worth  of  any  institution  that  we  have  ? 
Take  away  confidence  from  a  bank,  and  it  goes  to  ruin. 
Exhaust  public  confidence  from  an  insurance  office,  and  it 
will  soon  be  broken  up.  Take  away  confidence  from  gov- 
ernment, and  its  stability  is  gone.  Exhaust  the  confidence 
of  man  in  man,  and  each  individual  would  be  insulated  from 
the  rest  of  society,  and  would  look  with  a  cold  suspicion 
upon  his  neighbor,  and  all  reciprocal  good  offices  would 
cease,  and  society  would  fall  to  pieces,  or  corrupt  and  rot 
imder  its  own  depravity  and  wickedness. 

Faith  or  confidence  is  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of 
the  social  system,  and,  if  it  be  perfectly  reasonable  that  con- 
fidence should  be  so  important  an  element  in  this  under 
world,  is  it  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  God  should  have 


FAITH   AND    HOPE.  359 

laid  hold  of  so  precious  an  element,  and  made  it  occupy  a 
mighty  and  important  place  in  the  higher  world  ? 

It  has,  however,  been  objected  by  some  to  faith,  and  to 
the  stress  that  is  laid  on  it,  that  many  persons  substitute  "  I 
believe  "  for  "  I  do,"  or  "  I  give,"  "  I  love."  St.  James  tells 
u»,  that  it  is  not  the  exercise  of  true  Christian  faith,  to  say 
to  the  cold,  "  Go,  and  be  warmed,"  to  the  naked,  "  Go,  and 
be  clothed,"  while  he  does  not  warm  nor  clothe  them ;  and 
he  asks  very  naturally,  "  can  such  a  faith  —  can  this  sham 
faith  save  ?  "  It  is  this  sham  faith  that  St.  James  speaks  of, 
and  not  the  faith  of  the  gospel.  But  when  persons  do  sub- 
stitute "  I  believe  "  for  ^*  I  do,"  "  I  love^"  religion  is  not  to 
be  blamed,  surely,  for  this  perversion  of  it.  The  man  who 
substitutes  the  creed  for  the  decalogue,  who  thinks  the  repe- 
tition of  one  without  an  omission  to  be  an  atonement  for 
his  breach  of  the  other ;  who  thinks  that  orthodoxy  is  a  suf- 
ficient substitute,  and  an  atonement  for  immorality,  and  that 
right  believing  is  good  enough,  although  there  be  not  right 
living ;  perverts  the  gospel,  has  not  only  no  right  faith,  but 
has  no  idea  of  the  nature  or  obligations  of  faith.  There 
cannot  be  real  faith,  or  confidence  in  God,  in  the  Scriptural 
sense  of  that  word,  without  a  retinue  of  Christian  graces 
constantly  in  its  train.  To  talk  of  faith  being  imperfect 
without  works,  is  just  as  foolish  as  to  talk  of  a  fire  being  im- 
perfect without  heat,  or  of  the  sun  being  imperfect  without 
sunbeams.  If  there  be  no  heat,  there  is  no  fire ;  if  there 
be  no  light,  there  is  no  risen  sun ;  if  there  be  no  good  works, 
there  is  no  faith.  There  cannot  be  true  Christian  faith, 
unless  there  follow  it,  necessarily  and  truly,  a  thorough 
Christian  practice.  Faith  gives  momentum  to  every  grace, 
the  direction  it  is  to  take,  the  vitality  in  which  it  flourishes  ; 
and  without  faith,  all  Christian  graces  would  instantly 
expire. 

The  definition  of  the  apostle  is,  "  Faith  is  the  substance 
of  things  hoped  for." 


360  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE   THE   FLOOD. 

There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  discussion  as  to  what  is 
the  precise  meaning  of  the  word  "substance,"  Perhaps 
the  plainest  expletive  is,  it  is  the  "  basis  "  of  things  hoped 
for,  that  whatever  good  hope  a  man  has,  must,  if  it  be  good, 
lean  upon  the  foundation  of  previous  sound  faith.  In  other 
words,  it  teaches  us,  that  it  is  impossible  to  cherish  a  hope 
worth  having,  unless  we  have  a  faith  that  will  issue  in 
fruition ;  that  for  all  good  things  that  are  truly  hoped  for, 
there  must  be  good  things  that  are  truly  believed  in. 
Faith,  the  belief  of  good,  is  the  basis  of  hope,  the  expecta- 
tion of  good. 

When  it  is  said,  "  Faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for,"  we  naturally  ask.  What  are  some  of  these  things? 
what  did  Noah,  and  Enoch,  and  Abel  expect  ?  There  are 
some  things  that  are  properly  the  objects  of  hope ;  there 
are  other  things  that  we  never  ought  and  never  can  hope 
for.  Persons  say,  "  I  hope  for  the  forgiveness  of  my  sins ;" 
"I  hope  one  day  to  repent."  This  language  is  absurd. 
Forgiveness  of  sin  is  not  the  object  of  hope  at  all ;  it  is  the 
object  and  possession  of  faith.  "  I  hope  to  repent,"  is 
delusion ;  because  I  repent  through  believing,  not  by 
hoping.  It  is  the  ruin  of  many,  that  they  hope  to  be 
forgiven;  it  is  the  joy  and  safety  of  thousands,  that  they 
believe  that  they  are  forgiven,  or  in  order  to  be  forgiven. 
We  are  not  to  hope  to  be  forgiven ;  but  to  believe,  in  order 
to  be  forgiven,  or  that  we  are  already  forgiven.  We  are 
not  to  build  our  faith  upon  our  hopes,  but  our  hopes  upon 
our  faith.  Thus  "  faith  is  the  substance,"  the  basis,  "  of 
things  hoped  for." 

No  Christian  ought,  or  is  warranted,  to  hope  for  increase 
of  pardon  and  justification  before  God.  Every  one  is  now, 
by  faith  in  the  righteousness  of  Christ,  either  completely 
justified,  so  that  his  justification  cannot  be  increased,  or  he 
is  not  justified  at  all.     We  may  be  imperfectly  sanctified, 


FAITH   AND    HOPE.  861 

because  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  progressive  one ; 
but  we  cannot  be  imperfectly  justified.  We  either  are 
clothed  in  the  righteousness  of  the  Lamb  that  has  been 
slain ;  and  because  of  that  righteousness,  Omniscience  cannot 
see  a  flaw  in  us ;  or  we  ^re  so  completely  strangers  to  that 
righteousness,  so  destitute  of  it,  that  we  have  no  title  to 
heaven  whatever  in  the  sight  of  God.  Justification  is  the 
same  to  the  believer  who  yesterday  was  forgiven,  as  it  is  to 
the  saint  who  stands  upon  the  verge  of  glory,  and  has  been 
justified  for  fifty  years.  We  are  perfectly  justified,  or  not 
justified  at  all.  We  cannot,  therefore,  hope  for  increase 
of  justification  in  the  sight  of  God. 

Nor  can  we  hope  for  increase  of  the  love  of  God.  God's 
love  to  us  is  not  increased  with  the  increase  of  our  faith. 
He  loved  us  from  everlasting,  just  as  he  loves  us  now,  and 
in  either  case  so  intensely,  that  the  exponent  of  that  love  is 
the  gift  of  his  only  begotten  Son  —  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
We  may  enjoy  more  of  that  love  by  having  the  inner  eye 
more  open  to  its  reception;  but  to  increase  that  love  is 
impossible.  We  cannot  increase  the  infifiite.  The  breath 
of  the  babe  cannot  add  to  the  impetus  of  the  hurricane. 
The  tear  of  the  orphan  cannot  add  to  the  immensity  of  the 
waters  of  the  unsounded  sea.  The  finite  cannot  increase 
the  infinite.  God's  love,  infinite  in  its  existence,  unchange- 
able in  its  application,  must  be  "  the  same  yesterday,  today, 
and  for  ever ;  "  we  cannot  expect  an  increase  of  it. 

What,  then,  are  we  warranted  to  hope  for  ?  What  hope 
should  we  build  upon  the  increase  of  our  faith  ?  The  great 
hope  constantly  held  out  in  the  New  Testament  is  the 
promised  return  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  that  return 
which  Enoch  prophesied  :  "  I  will  come  again,  and  receive 
you  to  myself."  To  them  that  look  for  him,  he  will  come  a 
second  time,  without  sin  to  salvation.  "  Looking  for,"  says 
the  apostle,  "  that  blessed  hope,  the  glorious  appearing  of 
31 


362  THE    CnURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 


Jesus  Christ,  our  God  and  Saviour."  In  otlier  words,  we 
do  not  believe,  for  our  salvation,  in  justification  by  faith, 
but  in  Christ ;  so  we  do  not  hope  for  a  millennium,  but  for 
Christ.  The  faith  of  the  Christian  rests  upon  a  personal 
Being —  Christ ;  the  hope  of  the  Christian  stretches  to  a 
personal  Being — Christ.  We  believe  upon  him  for  the 
forgiveness  of  our  sins ;  we  hope  in  him  for  the  perfection 
of  our  glory,  and  happiness  for  ever.  The  faith  of  the 
Christian  believes  in  the  truth  of  the  promise ;  the  hope 
of  the  Christian  feeds  upon  the  goodness  of  the  promise. 
Faith  takes  the  cup  in  its  hand  that  God  freely  offers ;  hope 
tastes  the  wine  that  is  in  the  cup,  and  is  gladdened  and 
exhilarated  thereby. 

A  Christian  may  also  hope  for  that  blessed  inheritance 
that  God  has  promised.  He  has  reserved  for  us  an  entrance 
into  blessedness  —  an  inheritance  shall  be  administered  unto 
us,  real  though  unseen,  the  subject  of  promise,  the  revela- 
tion of  truth.  Now,  faith  is  the  basis  on  which  the  truth 
stands,  and  hope  approaches  the  truth,  and  takes  from  it  the 
blessing  which  it  embodies. 

Another  object  of  the  Christian's  hope  is  the  resurrection 
of  the  body.  "  The  hour  is  coming,  in  the  which  all  that 
are  in  the  graves  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  man, 
and  shall  come  forth ;  they  that  have  done  good,  unto  the 
resurrection  of  life ;  and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the 
resurrection  of  condemnation;"  or,  as  the  whole  magnifi- 
cent scene  is  depicted  in  that  beautiful  chapter  of  St.  Paul's 
Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  "  I  would  not  have  you  to  be 
ignorant,  brethren,  concerning  them  which  are  asleep,  that 
ye  sorrow  not,  even  as  others  which  have  no  hope.  For  if 
we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,"  —  here  is 
faith,  —  "  even  so  them  also  which  sleep  in  Jesus  will  God 
bring  with  him,"  —  here  is  hope  —  faith  believing,  hope 
expecting.     "  For  this  we  say  unto  you  by  the  word  of  the 


FAITH   AND    HOPE.  363 

Lord,  that  we  which  are  alive  and  remain  unto  the  coming 
of  the  Lord  shall  not  prevent  them  which  are  asleep.  For 
the  Lord  himself  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  a  shout, 
with  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  with  the  trump  of 
God:  and  the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first."  Whatever 
good  promise  God  has  made  in  the  Bible,  faith  believes  as  a 
truth,  and  hope  looks  forward  to  its  fulfilment  and  realiza- 
tion as  the  good  that  is  contained  in  it.  In  other  words, 
faith  is  the  foundation  laid  deep  and  strong  in  the  Rock  of 
ages ;  hope  is  the  beautiful  and  tapering  spire  that  rises 
upon  that  foundation,  penetrates  the  sky,  and  is  illuminated 
by  the  first  beams  of  the  rising,  and  by  the  last  rays  of 
departing  suns.  Faith  is  the  basis,  the  substance ;  hope  is 
that  which  leans  and  depends  upon  it.  Faith  accepts  the 
bank-note  as  a  true,  genuine  document;  and  hope  makes 
use  of  it  as  a  marketable  thing,  and  transfers  it  for  things 
that  are  good  and  useful.  Faith  makes  invisible  things  visi- 
ble ;  hope  makes  future  things  present.  Faith  brings  down 
into  the  present,  things  that  are  invisible ;  hope  brings  back 
into  the  present,  things  that  are  future.  Thus  hope  rests 
upon  faith.  That  which  we  hope  for,  has  for  its  basis  that 
which  we  believe. 

Faith  is  not  only  "  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for," 
without  which  we  could  not  hope  for  any  thing ;  but  it  is 
"the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  In  other  words,  a 
Christian  has  another  sense.  As  truly  as  the  natural  eye 
sees  the  panorama,  the  landscape,  the  rock,  the  flowers,  the 
trees ;  so  truly  an  inner  eye,  which  is  the  gift  of  God,  and 
the  possession  of  every  Christian,  sees  things  that  are  un- 
seen and  eternal.  The  things  that  are  unseen  by  the 
natural  eye  are  as  real  to  the  inner  eye  of  a  child  of  God, 
as  the  things  that  are  seen  by  the  natural  eye  are  to  the 
natural  man.  No  natural  light,  bude  light,  electric  light,  or 
other,  can  enable  a  blind  man  to  see.     No  reasoning,  no 


364  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

philosophy,  no  science,  no  eloquence,  can  enable  an  unre- 
generate  man  wlio  has  not  this  inner  eye  that  God  gives,  to 
see  the  things  of  glory,  of  eternity,  and  of  happiness  to 
come. 

To  a  Christian,  faith  in  God's  word  is  surer  than  geome- 
try to  a  geometrician,  or  mathematics  to  a  mam  of  science. 
He  believes  in  virtue  of  a  sense  that  a  natural  man  has  not. 
In  other  words,  faith,  while  it  has  an  analogous  thing  in  the 
natural  man  in  the  shape  of  confidence  in  human  things,  is 
nevertheless  a  gift  of  God ;  as  the  apostle  says,  "  To  you  it 
is  given  to  believe;"  and  only  in  the  exercise  of  this 
inspired  faith  we  see  things  that  are  unseen. 

Let  us  ascertain  some  of  the  things  unseen,  that  faith  sees. 

A  natural  man,  that  is,  a  man  that  is  unregenerate,  may 
come  to  a  conclusion  that  a  God  exists.  Justly  he  may  say, 
I  trace  his  foot  prints  on  every  acre  of  the  earth,  and  I  can 
see  his  smiles  in  the  morning  light,  I  can  hear  his  voice  in 
the  thunder,  and  in  the  chimes  of  the  sea,  and  there  are  so 
many  and  so  marked  exhibitions  of  system,  of  goodness,  and 
of  design  in  the  visible  framework  of  this  visible  world, 
that  I  come  to  this  Qonclusion,  that  there  is  a  God.  But  a 
Christian,  while  he  comes  to  the  same  conviction,  on  the 
same  premises,  has,  in  addition  to .  this,  faith  which  is  "  the 
evidence  of  things  not  seen."  In  other  words,  a  Christian 
believes  that  there  is  a  God  upon  an  additional  ground,  and 
that  additional  ground  is.  Thus  saith  the  Lord :  God's  enun- 
ciation of  himself  is  the  everlasting  ground  on  which  a 
Christian  believes  that  there  is  a  God. 

Another  thing  unseen  which  the  Christian  believes,  and 
Adam  foresaw  and  Abel  looked  for,  is  the  incarnation  of  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  —  a  cardinal  and  vital  truth  in  the  gospel. 
"  Great  is  the  mystery  of  godliness."  No  man  can  compre- 
hend it ;  but  the  Bible  asserts  it,  and  therefore  the  Christian 
believes  it.     And  this  incarnation  of  Jesus  is  not  a  dreamy 


FAITH   AND    HOPE.  .     365 

abstraction,  an  artistic  representation,  but  a  Divine  person. 
Jesus  is  not  the  Godlike  in  the  human  nature,  he  is  not 
latent  divinity  in  man,  nor  divine  biography  in  man,  as  the 
Pantheists  call  him ;  but  he  is  "  God,"  the  personal  God, 
"  manifest  in  the  flesh."  A  Christian,  although  he  does  not 
see  Christ,  yet  believes  in  Christ ;  and  the  faith  by  which 
he  thus  believes,  is  to  him  "the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen." 

So,  in  the  same  manner,  we  accept  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  of  God.  The  world  laughs  at  it ;  the  natural  man, 
and  very  gifted  men,  call  it  fanaticism ;  and  yet  it  is  just  as 
much  a  fact  as  any  of  the  phenomena  in  the  natural  world, 
that  one  has  undergone  a  change  that  has  cast  a  new  light 
upon  the  universe,  and  made  all  things  become  new ;  and 
that  another  has  not  undergone  that  change,  but  is  sensuous, 
carnal,  of  the  earth,  earthy.  A  Christian  sees  the  Holy 
Spirit's  work  within  him,  because  he  believes  the  Holy 
Spirit's  word  without  him.  He  does  not  see  the  Spirit's 
work,  and  yet  he  believes  its  reality,  because  faith  is  to  him 
"the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  Some  of  the  most 
potent  agencies  in  the  outer  world  are  unseen.  The  most 
powerful  element  in  nature  is  invisible.  "  The  wind  bloweth 
where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound,  thereof,  but 
canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh,  and  whither  it  goeth,  so  is 
every  one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit  of  God." 

A  man  that  has  this  faith,  the  faith  of  a  Christian,  believes 
also  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  and  its  emergence  at 
death  from  its  earthly  tabernacle.^  We  may  conclude,  from 
manifold  presumptions,  that  the  soul  survives  the  body ;  "but 
we  cannot  irrefragably  prove  it.  But  the  Christian  hears 
God  pronouncing  its  immortality,  and  that  faith  whicli 
accepts  whatever  God  has  written,  is  to  him  the  basis  of  the 
thing  that  is  told  him,  and  the  evidence  of  the  things  that 
the  natural  eye  cannot  see. 

31* 


366  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

Faith  not  only  discloses  tilings  that  are  unseen,  but  it 
brings  them  near  and  appropriates  them.  It  brings  God 
near,  it  brings  Christ  near,  it  brings  the  future  near,  it 
brings  the  unseen  near  to  us.  So  truly  so,  that  the  Chris- 
tian acts  from  motives,  and  entertains  objects,  and  aims,  and 
hopes  which  are  strange  and  mysterious  altogether  to  a  nat- 
ural man.  A  natural  man  cannot  understand  how  any  one 
should  brave  shame,  or  despise  riches,  or  hate  even  life  itself, 
rather  than  light  a  little  incense,  as  the  Christians  were 
asked  to  do,  upon  the  altar  of  Jupiter.  A  natural  man 
cannot  understand  how  he  should  lose  a  splendid  profit  by 
deference  to  some  inner  light  —  some  mighty  motive,  that 
guides,  sustains,  and  actuates  the  soul  within.  But  a  Chris- 
tian does.  And  why  ?  Because  a  natural  man  lives  in  a 
lower  element,  and  a  Christian  lives  in  a  higher.  They  to 
whom  the  sea  is  the  natural  element,  cannot  understand  the 
movements  of  them  whose  element  is  the  air.  A  Christian 
lives  in  the  higher  element,  and,  therefore,  what  influences, 
guides,  moves,  directs  him,  is  altogether  a  mystery  to  the 
world;  so  truly  so,  that  the  world  knoweth  us  not,  as  it 
knew  Him  not. 

And  faith  not  only  brings  near,  it  also  appropriates.  It 
puts  the  word  "  mine  "  to  every  thing  that  God  says,  and  to 
every  thing  that  God  has  promised.  Any  man  can  say, 
There  is  a  God,  a  Saviour,  a  Bible,  a  heaven ;  but,  in  the 
exercise  of  that  faith  which  is  to  a  Christian  "  the  evidence 
of  things  not  seen,  and  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for," 
he  can  say.  He  is  my  God,  he  is  my  Saviour,  he  is  my 
Sanctifier ;  and  that  heaven  is  my  heaven,  and  that  happi- 
ness is  my  happiness. 

Thus,  faith  sets  in  motion  almost  all  the  springs  that  can 
move  and  actuate  the  human  soul.  So  true  is  this,  that  he 
must  be  a  stranger  indeed  to  faith  who  does  not  bring  forth 
all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit,  and  show,  in  his  whole  walk  and 


FAITH    AND    HOPE.  367 

convers.ition,  that  he  is  moved  and  guided  by  an  inner  but 
unseen  motive  power,  that  is  "the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world."  If  a  man  believe  truly  that  there  is  a  region 
where  gold  is  to  be  had  only  for  the  gathering,  or  that  there 
are  streams,  like  those  of  Pactolus  of  old,  whose  sands  are 
golden,  he  goes  to  that  land,  and  seeks  for  what  can  enrich 
him ;  or  if  there  be  an  invalid  who  hears  of  a  land  where 
there  is  a  bright  sun  and  a  cloudless  sky,  where  his  health 
may  be  invigorated  and  restored,  he  sails  for  that  land,  and 
avails  himself  of  it.  If  you  truly  believe  that  you  are  lost 
by  nature,  and  can  only  be  saved  by  grace ;  if  you  really 
believe  that  you  are  perishing  and  passing  to  everlasting 
death,  and  that  there  is  an  arm  stretched  down  from  the 
skies  on  w^hich  you  have  only  to  lay  hold  to  be  drawn  up  to 
everlasting  glory;  if  you  with  your  affections  and  heart 
believe  this,  it  is  impossible  that  you  can  fail  to  seize  that 
hand,  and  so  to  hope  for  that  glory. 

This  faith,  wherever  it  is,  triumphs  in  every  case,  too, 
over  death.  A  Christian  by  faith  triumphs  over  death. 
The  grave,  which  shocks  some,  does  not  shock  him.  He 
knows  that  he  leaves  in  the  grave  only  the  robes  in  which 
he  officiated  as  a  Levite  in  the  outer  temple  of  God ;  into 
the  texture  of  which  robes  his  hopes,  his  joys,  his  happiness 
do  not  enter.  A  Christian,  that  is,  he  who  has  true  faith, 
who  has  this  inner  eye  that  sees  the  things  that  are  invisible, 
detects  no  more  connection  between  death  and  extinction, 
than  between  life  and  extinction.  In  other  words,  dust  and 
the  soul,  corruption  and  the  spirit,  have  no  connection  what- 
ever in  a  Christian's  estimate.  He  cannot  see  that  the  soul 
dies,  because  the  body  dissolves ;  or  that,  because  the  one 
goes  to  corruption,  the  other  must  be  annihilated.  On  the 
contrary,  believing  God's  testimony,  and  seeing  the  things 
that  are  unseen  by  this  inner  and  true  eye,  he  believes  that 
the  wreck  of  the  material  frame  is  only  the  emergence 


368  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE   FLOOD. 

and  the  disentanglement  of  the  glorious  tenant  that  inhab- 
ited it. 

Such  is  that  true  faith,  the  basis  of  the  happy  things  we 
hope -for,  the  evidence  of  the  true  things  which  we  believe, 
which  the  Church  before  the  Flood  lived  by,  as  truly  as  we. 
Have  we  this  faith  implanted  An  our  hearts  ?  Have  we  a 
life  distinct  from  and  superior  to  the  life  that  dies  ?  Have 
we  springs  and  motives  of  action  that  the  world  has  not? 
Do  we  feel  "  Thou,  O  God,  seest  me ; "  and  is  this  far  more 
real  and  cogent  and  constraining  in  our  experience  than  any 
other  motive  that  the  world  can  present  ?  Do  we  feel,  that 
because  Christ  has  loved  us,  which  we  believe,  that  we 
ought  to  love  him,  and,  loving  him,  to  live  to  him,  which  is 
our  duty  ?  The  evidence  of  the  sun  being  risen  is  that  he 
shines ;  the  evidence  of  the  fire  being  kindled  is  that  it  gives 
forth  heat ;  the  evidence  of  faith  being  in  us  is  that  we  act 
as  faith  prescribes,  directs,  and  dictates.  Can  you,  dear 
reader,  believing  these  things,  pray  earnestly,  "Lord,  in- 
crease our  faith  ?  "  Such  a  petition  is  the  evidence  of  faith. 
No  man  ever  asked  for  faith  from  the  depths  of  his  heart, 
who  had  not  already  a  portion  of  faith  to  enable  him  thus 
to  ask.  He  who  can  say,  "  Take  my  case  in  thine  hand, 
thou  Great  Physician,  and  heal  me,"  has  the  inner  eye  that 
sees  that  physician  already.  The  blind  sees  none.  The 
fact  that  we  see  Christ,  and  appeal  to  him,  is  the  evidence 
that  the  inner  eye  has  been  couched,  and  that  we  have  that 
faith,  which  "  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the  evi- 
dence of  things  not  seen." 

If  we  have  this  faith,  we  shall  have  peace.  There  is  no 
one  more  marked  fruit  of  faith  spoken  of  in  the  Scriptures 
than  peace.  "  Thou  wilt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace,  whose 
mind  is  stayed  on  thee  ;  "  and  again,  "  Justified  by  faith,  we 
have  peace  with  God."  If  there  be  this  confidence  in  God, 
this  sweet  composure  of  our  souls  in  the  bosom  and  within 


FAITH   AND    HOPE.  369 

the  everlasting  arms  of  our  Father  and  of  our  God,  then  no 
storms  that  rage  without  can  disturb  us,  no  changes,  perils, 
or  vicissitudes  can  move  us.  When  Noah  was  in  the  ark, 
he  heard  the  hailstones  patter  on  the  roof,  and  around  him 
the  noise  of  the  angry  surges  ;  but  he  felt  peace.  Why  ? 
not  because  the  caulking,  or  the  timber,  or  the  bolts  of  that 
ark  were  all  that  he  could  wish  them  to  be ;  but  because 
God  had  said  that  the  ark  should  outlive  it  all,  and  land 
upon  Ararat  its  redeemed  ones,  no  more  to  look  out  upon  a 
world  under  water;  but  upon  a  world  rebaptized  and 
renewed.  Even  so  now,  we  shall  have  peace,  not  because 
we  are  strong,  courageous,  and  clever,  or  have  patronage, 
or  money,  or  friends  ;  but  because  God  keeps  him  "  in  per- 
fect peace,  whose  mind  is  stayed  upon  him."  Abel  died  in 
peace ;  Noah  felt  peace  in  the  ark ;  by  faith  Daniel  had 
peace  in  the  den  of  lions.  By  faith  Paul  and  Silas  sang  in 
their  dungeon  at  midnight.  By  faith  John  saw  Patmos 
transformed  into  a  beauteous  Paradise.  By  faith  the 
tongues  of  martyrs,  like  harp-strings,  emitted  their  sweetest 
sounds  when  they  were  dying.  Their  spirits  passed  to 
glory  while  anthems  and  praises  were  upon  their  lips.  By 
faith  we  too  shall  overcome.  It  is  want  of  faith  that  makes 
some  alarmed  for  the  safety  of  the  truth  when  a  leaf  falls 
from  a  tree.  *  It  is  the  presence  of  faith  that  enables  the 
Christian  to  say,  "Though  the  mountains  be  carried  into 
the  midst  of  the  sea,  though  the  waters  thereof  roar  and  be 
troubled,  we  will  not  be  afraid  :  for  God  is  our  refuge."  It 
is  want  of  faith  that  makes  hundreds  and  thousands  tremble 
for  evangelical  truth,  because  the  pope  has  imported  a  car- 
dinal into  London.  It  is  Christian  confidence  in  the  truth 
that  makes  all  true  believers  feel  persuaded  that  all  the  car- 
dinals in  Rome  will  never  be  able  to  eradicate  eternal  truth. 
God  has  promised  to  us  and  to  it  immortality  —  He  has 
declared  that  Babylon,  like  a  great  mill-stone,  shall  be  cast 


370        THE  CHURCH  BEFORE  THE  FLOOD. 

into  the  depths  of  the  sea,  and  shall  be  no  more  heard  of  at 
all.  The  greatest  blunder  that  the  Vatican  ever  perpetra- 
ted was  that  appointment.  If  there  be  truth  in  prophecy, 
or  if  the  line  of  illustration  we  have  tried  to  teach  be  true, 
it  is  just  when  the  candle  is  going  out,  that  it  sends  forth  its 
brightest  but  short-lived  lustre  ;  it  is  when  death  is  going  to 
close  upon  the  body,  that  the  most  spasmodic  action  takes 
place ;  it  is  just  when  popery  is  about  to  be  finally  cast 
down,  that  its  most  desperate  efforts  will  be  made.  But 
they  will  all  be  made  in  vain.  We  believe  in  God,  we 
believe  also  in  Jesus,  and,  therefore,  we  have  peace  —  per- 
fect peace.  The  Lord  reigns,  the  Lord  is  our  refuge,  we 
shall  not  be  afraid.  The  same  God  that  carried  the  Church 
before  the  Flood  across  the  waters  to  Ararat,  will  conduct 
us  through  the  last  and  more  terrible  baptism  of  the  earth, 
to  the  everlasting  hills  of  blessedness  and  peace. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 


FULL   ASSURANCE. 

"  If  bliss  had  been  in  art  or  strength, 

None  but  the  wise  and  strong  had  gained  it ; 
Where  now,  by  faith,  all  arms  are  of  a  length, 
One  size  doth  all  conditions  fit. 

*'  A  peasant  may  believe  as  much 

As  a  great  clerk,  and  reach  the  highest  stature : 
Thus  dost  thou  make  proud  knowledge  bend  and  crouch, 
While  grace  fills  up  uneven  nature." 

"  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the  witness  in  himself."  — 
1  John  v.  10. 

John  enunciates  the  test  of  our  Christianity  on  evidence 
intelligible  to  ourselves,  and  within  our  own  reach ;  a  test 
applicable  to  antediluvians  as  to  us ;  in  other  words,  he 
says  that  no  man  need  be  ignorant  of  the  way  he  walks  in, 
of  the  destiny  he  is  wending  to,  of  the  character  he  sustains, 
and  of  the  nature  and  the  foundation  and  the  strength  of 
those  hopes  which  he  now  cherishes.  A  man  cannot  well 
be  a  Christian  without  in  some  degree  knowing  it.  He  that 
believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  has  the  reflex  influence  of  that 
belief  by  having  the  witness  in  himself.  How  imj^ortant  is 
this  statement !  No  one  need  remain  long  ignorant  of  what 
he  is,  or  indeed  even  be  doubtful  of  what  he  is.  Cain  knew 
he  was  no  saint.  There  are  data  in  which,  and  by  which, 
each  may  ascertain  whether  he  be  a  Christian,  or  a  mere 


372  THE    CHURCH   BEFORE    THE    FLOOD. 

child  of  the  world.  Let  us  proceed  to  enumerate  them. 
Faith,  as  we  have  already  seen,  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  gospel.  We  cannot  read  the  New  Testament,  or  the 
previous  chapter  of  this  work,  without  seeing  that  there  is 
ascribed  to  faith  so  much,  that  it  seems  the  leading  grace  of 
the  Christian  character.  It  is  "  the  substance  of  things 
hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen."  It  is  "  the  vic- 
tory that  overcometh  the  world."  It  worketh  by  love,  it 
purifieth  the  heart. 

The  vital  idea  of  faith  is  not  an  intellectual  conviction 
that  lies  cold  and  inoperative  in  the  mind,  but  an  inward 
moral  feeling,  that  constrains,  and  kindles,  and  sanctifies  the 
heart.  In  faith  there  is  as  much  of  a  moral  as  of  an  intel- 
lectual element.  It  means  the  trust,  or  leaning  of  the  heart, 
that  feels  its  safety  to  be  in  doing  so,  rather  than  the  con- 
viction of  an  intellect  that  believes  it  orthodox,  or  right,  to 
believe  so.  In  other  words,  faith  is  as  much  a  feeling  as 
a  conviction.  It  is  more  trusting  in  something  we  believe 
will  sustain  us,  than  mere  credence  of  a  dogma  that  we 
believe  to  be  true.  It  relates  more  to  the  heart  than  to  the 
head,  and  indicates  its  birthplace  by  the  plastic  power  it 
exercises  on  the  whole  tone  and  temperament  and  conduct 
of  the  human  character. 

Faith  in  Christ  is  not  a  substitute,  or  meant  to  be  a 
substitute,  for  morality,  but  the  root  of  it.  When  we  hear 
one  person  say,  we  are  saved  by  faith,  and  another  person 
say,  we  are  saved  by  works,  it  seems  at  first  as  if  the  one 
were  just  the  correlative  of  the  other ;  and  as  works  are 
the  foundation  of  one  man's  hopes,  right  or  wrong,  so  faith 
is  the  foundation  of  another  man's  hopes,  true  or  false.  But 
it  is  not  so.  Faith  is  no  more  the  ground  of  my  acceptance 
before  God  than  good  conduct.  If  it  were  so,  Adam's  creed 
would  be,  Do,  and  live.  Our  creed  would  be.  Believe,  and 
live  ;  and  the  difference  would  be  this,  —  Kightness  of  life 


FULL   ASSURANCE.  373 

was  the  ground  of  Adam's  acceptance  i  Tightness  of  creed 
would  be  the  foundation  of  oUr  acceptance  ;  but  there  is  no 
more  possibility  of  justification  by  believing  rightly,  than 
there  is  in  doing  rightly.  In  other  words,  orthodoxy  is  not 
the  ground  of  our  salvation.  The  devils  believe  all  the 
articles  of  the  creed,  and  yet  they  are  not  saved,  but 
tremble;  and  a  man  may  still  remember  all  the  dogmas 
of  Christianity,  and  yet  not  be  a  Christian  at  all.  The 
ground  of  our  acceptance  is  the  righteousness  of  Christ, 
received  by  faith;  as  the  ground  of  Adam's  acceptance 
before  he  fell  was  a  perfect  righteousness  achieved  by  his 
own  doings.  The  difference  between  our  condition  and 
Adam's  is,  that  Adam  had  to  do  righteousness,  which,  if 
done,  was  his  right  to  heaven ;  we  have  to  receive  righteous- 
ness, which  as  received  is  our  right  to  heaven.  What  he 
had  to  do,  we  have  simply  to  receive.  He  worked  his  way 
to  heaven,  and  if  he  had  persevered,  he  would  have 
obtained  it ;  we  receive  our  title  to  heaven,  and  holding 
fast  that  title,  we  are  sure  of  the  blessed  and  glorious 
result.  "He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God  hath  the 
witness  in  himself. 

But,  whilst  faith  is  not  the  substitute  for  works,  nor  right 
believing  the  substitute  for  right  doing,  yet  wherever  there 
is  true  faith  in  the  human  heart,  there  will  be  true  holiness 
in  the  human  life.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  faith  without 
works  —  it  is  an  absurdity  to  suppose  it.  There  may  be 
what  James  calls  a  faith,  reputed  so  by  man,  without  works, 
but  there  cannot  be  the  divine  and  elevating  principle  of 
the  gospel,  unless  it  be  followed  by  all  the  fruits  of  right- 
eousness, and  move  radiant  in  an  atmosphere  of  light  and 
life,  so  conspicuous  that  he  that  reads  may  run  while  he 
does  so.  One  would  not  think  of  speaking  of  the  sun  in 
his  meridian  without  light ;  nor  would  one  talk  of  a  fire 
without  heat ;  we  do  not  speak  of  a  living  tree  without  bud, 
32 


374  THE    CHURCH   B]fflt^BETH&^E?^OD.     (Ji^?^  * 

or  blossom,  or  fruit  of  some  sort.  So,  to  speak  of  living 
faith  without  fruits,  is  to  suppose  that  a  man  having  life  can 
neither  hear,  nor  taste,  nor  move  a  limb  nor  a  muscle 
through  his  whole  frame.  The  thing  is  absurd.  If  there 
are  no  fruits,  there  is  no  faith ;  if  there  be  faith  at  all, 
there  must  necessarily  be  some,  or  all  the  fruits  of  the 
gospel.  Faith  in  Christ  means,  to  trust  in  Christ  as  the 
only  sacrifice,  and  to  receive  from  Christ,  as  the  Prophet 
and  the  King,  direction  how  to  live.  From  Christ  as  a 
sacrifice,  we  receive  a  new  life ;  from  Christ  as  our  King, 
we  receive  a  «new  direction.  We  take  pardon  from  the 
altar,  we  take  direction  from  the  sceptre,  and  wherever 
Christ  is  relied  on  truly  for  the  forgiveness  of  all  our  sins, 
he  is  deferred  to  really  for  direction  in  all  our  doings.  He, 
then,  that  thus  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God,  hath  the 
witness  in  himself. 

It  is  said,  "  He  that  believeth  on  the  Son  of  God."  It  is 
very  beautiful,  and  very  important  to  recollect,  that  the 
gospel  of  Christ  is  not  trust  in  a  doctrine,  but  in  a  person. 
Our  creed  is  not,  I  believe  in  Christianity,  but,  I  believe  in 
Christ.  And  when  the  question  was  asked,  "  What  must 
I  do  to  be  saved  ?  "  the  answer  was  not.  Believe  in  justifi- 
cation by  faith  —  but,  "Believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  thou  shalt  be  saved."  The  beauty  of  the  gospel  is, 
that  it  brings  us  into  contact,  not  with  a  valley  of  dry  bones, 
or  dead  and  uninfluential  dogmas,  but  into  living,  personal 
connection  with  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  the  Saviour  of  all 
that  believe.  Hence  our  faith  is  not  in  the  testimony,  but 
in  the  testifier.  The  living  stone,  that  is,  the  Christian,  is 
built,  not  upon  a  dead  doctrine,  but  upon  the  living  Rock, 
the  Lord  Jesus  Clu'ist ;  he  that  believeth,  therefore,  not  in 
the  fact  that  Jesus  died,  but  in  the  person  of  the  Son  of 
God,  hath  the  witness  in  himself 

The  epithet  under  which  the  Saviour  is  here  presented, 


FULL   ASSURANCE.  385 

you  a  Christian  ?  Time  sweeps  past  us  with  the  speed  of  a 
hurricane ;  the  great  ocean  of  eternity  is  rolling  onward 
every  hour,  we  stand  upon  a  narrow  isthmus  that  is  wasted 
by  time,  and  washed  by  the  waves  of  the  eternal  sea ;  a  few 
more  days,  a  few  more  years,  and  we  shall  be  where  there 
is  no  more  repentance,  but  where  the  tremendous  results  of 
faith  in  the  Son  of  God,  or  of  the  neglect  or  the  rejection 
of  him  will  be  eternally  and  universally  realized.  How  is 
it  that  men  can  live  a  day  without  some  deep  persuasion 
whether  they  are  the  sons  of  God  ?  ^  How  is  it  that  years 
are  allowed  to  roll  on,  while  no  introspective  or  reflective 
feelings  are  cherished  by  us,  and  no  honest  investigation  of 
the  facts  of  religion  in  our  conscience  and  our  heart  is 
entered  into  ?  I  know  that  when  I  ask  you  first  to  be  Chris- 
tians, I  ask  you  not  to  look  within,  but  to  rest  upon  the 
object,  Christ,  that  is  without.  But  when  I  address  those 
who  doubt,  when  there  need  be  no  doubt,  who  hesitate, 
where  there  need  be  no  hesitation,  who  suppose  they  are 
Christians,  when  all  facts  and  all  evidences  indicate  the 
reverse,  —  then  I  ask  you  to  judge  by  the  feelings  you  have 
and  the  fruits  you  bear,  whether  you  believe  on  the  Son  of 
God,  or  not. 

Decide  the  question  —  indecision  is  present  agony;  re- 
jection is  everlasting  ruin;  decision  for  Christ  is  present 
and  perpetual  peace. 


;UNI7BRSIT7] 


WORKS 


KEV.  JOHN  GUMMING,  D.D., 

Minister  of  the  Scottish  National  Church,  Crown  Court,  Covent  Garden,  London 


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